Quick high-tensile fence repair

[RobA]

My neighbor's high-tensile fence broke in 2 spots along my driveway. The breaks are far away from their house and I am sure they don't even know about it. The have cattle but are never near this section of fence. I wouldn't mind fixing it for them but I have no experience with something like this. Any thoughts on how I can splice the broken wires together? Do they make kits for this?

[moeh1]

You can splice a piece in using a little joiner called a gripple

[texasjohn]

At Tractor Supply, they have these devices...Popular Searches at Tractor Supply Co.

The ratchets also tighten the fence, assuming you have sufficient slack (maybe 2 inches) initially to get it started.
The crimping sleeves require two tools, something to tighten the fence while you install the sleeve and a tool to smash the sleeve tight on the wire...a tool is sold for this purpose, but you might be able to use a pair of vice grips for the few you need to do.

Why not call the owners and let them fix it.??

There also are special wire knots you can use to splice high tensile wire but they require tightening the line after a splice is inserted. So you need a section of high tensile wire and a strainer.

Note, high tensile wire is exceptionally difficult to bend if you are unfamiliar with how to do it and make a splice but the items at Tractor Supply make it reasonably simple.

[RobA]

Why not call the owners and let them fix it.??

I figured if it was cheap and easy to fix I would just do a good deed.

I think there are 2 wires broken and each has a nearby ratchet-type tightener.

[pacerron]

My neighbor's high-tensile fence broke in 2 spots along my driveway. The breaks are far away from their house and I am sure they don't even know about it. The have cattle but are never near this section of fence. I wouldn't mind fixing it for them but I have no experience with something like this. Any thoughts on how I can splice the broken wires together? Do they make kits for this?

You will find a ratchet type tightener along the line for each wire, probably all at the same place, unless they were trying to use up a spool of wire on one strand. Loosen the tightener wheel and make the splice. You won't need any new wire. After making the splice for them you will need to put the wire under a little tension. If the wires have rubber insulators at the posts they may have a charger on them.
It would probably be better to call them or stop by to inform them of the break, as they will have the splices, crimper tool, and handle for the tension wheel. That is unless you broke their wire and don't want them to know until the next time they check the fence

[JD5210]

If it was me, I would stick the ends in the ground on the opposite side of where the cattle are. This will help avoid the cattle getting caught up in it. Most likely it is already on the ground and shorting out. Then call your neighbor and let him/her know about the breaks and what you did. If your neighbor has cattle on his side more than likely the fence is hot. It will not hurt you, but will put a little curl back in your hair. You do not want to be repairing a hot fence.

Normally with a break you can let a little out at the strainer and put in 2 splice sleeves to repair it. Go easy unwinding it off the strainer as the wire could break then you got yourself even a bigger mess. I have done it by myself but sure is easier with 2 people. To me you need the crippling tool (normally $60+) to do it right.

[creekbend]

As others have mentioned earlier, the fence is most probably electrified and hot. It would be most prudent to contact the neighbors. Some chargers are solar powered and there may be more than one charger. It depends on the length of the fence and the voltage. When I was a young boy, I picked up a strand of hot electric fence that I thought had the current disconnected. The field was wet, and I have always double checked since that time. Just a thought.

[Lou66]

Where are neighbors like you when my fence needs to be fixed..?? just call them it there cows.. besides some of the old ranchers like our fence done a special way.. lol.. we are just set in our ways...old.. Lou

[joshuabardwell]

If it was my fence, I would not want you repairing it, especially if you didn't know what you were doing. I have a particular way I like to do my splices, and I reckon so do most fence owners. Most people who don't know what they are doing want to tension the dickens out of a high-tensile fence, but for an electric fence, it is actually better to put the bare minimum of tension on as possible. The electric shock keeps the animal off the fence, and the slack in the line means that if a tree falls on it or something, the wire just stretches to the ground and doesn't break or pop the stand-offs off the fence posts. If my fence line broke, I would want to be able to inspect if any non-obvious damage was done, which I wouldn't get to do if somebody else repaired it without my knowledge. Finally, as others have pointed out, the fence may be hot, in which case it will need to be de-energized before working on it. I agree with what others have said: let the owner know about the break. He or she will have tools, equipment, and knowledge to effect the repair to his or her satisfaction.

To get to the answer of your question, the way to splice a high-tensile fence is to let some slack out of the strainer, splice the wire, then re-tension the line. There are two main ways of doing the splice. You can use a swage sleeve and crimp tool, where a double-necked sleeve goes over both wires, then a crimp tool crushes the sleeve against the wires. Typically, you will use three sleeves on an in-line splice and two sleeves when making a loop (e.g. around a fence post). The sleeves must be sized to the gauge of wire or they won't grip properly. Alternatively, you can make a "line-man's splice" knot. Here's a diagram:



The line-man's splice is very difficult to do on stiff wire like high-tensile. You can actually get small hand tools that help with twisting the wire neatly. If it is not done right, the wires will slip past each other and not hold.

[RobA]

Thanks for the advice. The fence is not electric and to be honest I am not even sure why it's there. It was installed before I bought my place and the area was wooded along both sides of the fence. Their animals never even come close to it I may just tell them about it and hope they don't think I did it!