Anyone used a 3 point fence stretcher?

[petebert]

Up to this point I've always used some 2x4s with lag bolts, some chains and I stretch using my tractor. It works okay but I thought an actual fence stretcher bar would be nicer to use. Looking online I came across this 3 point that looks pretty awesome. Only problem I could foresee with it is that to unroll the fence you'd have to swing out away from your fence line and then steer the tractor back over to get the fence in place. This is assuming all your posts were in place first, but I can't think of any other way to do it.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

I use 2 2x4's with bolts thru them and sandwich the fence between them then use a nylon sling top and bottom and hook a chain hoist to it and get it sagged up, but if I put up field fence for a living I would definitely have one of the rigs that you have posted. Agri-Supply sells them as well, good luck. Charlie.

 

[DJ54]

I built a similar unit to unroll, but for stretching, I use 2, oak 2 X 4's, with 6 bolts through them to sandwich the fence, then chain top & bottom, and pull with a HD 2 ton double dog come-a-long. I anchor to a tractor. I put my fence to the inside on my posts. I'd think it'd be tough to stretch to the inside, with a tractor, and get a nice even stretch all the way to the end, in one stretch.

When I unrolled it, the 240 is small enough I can get pretty close to the posts. I went maybe 50', stopped, and tied the top of the fence to a post to keep it upright. From then on, the fence laid itself up against the posts by itself. When I came to the corner, I made my turn, then backed into the corned. That left me some slack, enough to stretch, wrap & tie. I set the anchor tractor outside the fence. Cut the stay wires with a pair of mini bolt cutters on the proper strand to clear the cross brace, the hooked the stretcher, and put a pretty good tweek on it, and got to stapling. I put a short 4X6 under the fence at each post, so it would keep the fence high enough off the ground, so as to run a weedeater under it, but yet close enough to the ground, to keep the big varmints out. The Donkey pretty well takes care of anything that's not supposed to be in the pasture anyway...

The fence unroller saved most of the work of it. Stretching, stapling, and tying off, always seemed to be the easy part for me.

 

[Fallon]

I used a friends fence strecher... it was fancy. 2x4 on one side & some chasnnel iron on the other. It had keyholes in the angle iron so you didn't have to pull the bolts all the way out.

I put my 2,500lbs L3200 into 2wd & chained it to the loader then pulled until the tires spun. Intentionally minimizing traction pulling backwards, but still a lot of tension.

I wouldn't trust 4-6 hooks to deliver the pull needed. The vertical pieces on field fence are just wrapped around the long horizontal wires. The vertical often pull off easily. Not to mention pulling on them tends to distort the fence. Clamping is the way to go.

 

[hslogger]

The problem with using such a field unroller as a stretcher is fine tuning your pull from the tractor seat. Most guys including me use the sandwiched wire between two by fours along with a come a long, chain, or strap to a deadman. I like to pull my tractor sideways and use my loader main frame uprights as a pull point. If there is no room I use the third upright in my wooden H brace, tack it tight on the middle upright, cut the woven wire and wrap it by hand around the third upright using a crow bar or two to snug it

 

[quicksandfarmer]

I have that exact item. As hslogger wrote, it's not right for tensioning the fence. It doesn't allow for precision, and it doesn't allow the top of the fence to be at a different tension from the bottom of the fence. If your land is anything other than pool-table flat the top and the bottom are going to travel different distances and require different amounts of stretch to get to the same tension. I've only tried it a couple of times but it's real easy to overtension the fence and pull out the post at the other end with a tractor.

So I use two 2x4's and two come-alongs to tension.

It's not without usefulness. It's very handy for moving around rolls of fence. Just park next to the roll, stand it up, and slide it on. Easier than carrying rolls in the bucket. It's also helpful for paying out the fence. Attach one end of the roll to one corner, and drive to the other corner. It's also useful as an attachment point for the come-along when tensioning.

I'm not sure I would buy it again if I didn't have it but I do still use it when putting up fence.

 

[Fallon]

I would use something like that for unrolling fence though. My current method is 2 chains around the tamping bar dangling from the pallet forks on the loader. Really need to find some disks from a harrow to keep the fence from grabbing the chains, or make something out of plywood. It's a pain driving backwards with the fence hanging way out there too. If you hug the fenceline, any direction changes get really amplified leaving the fence way out there or running you into the fence posts.

 

[BrokenTrack]

I do it differently now, but a simple "fence stretcher" that works good is actually a winch.

Staple the roll of field fence onto a corner or end post, then put a chain through a length of pipe in the center of the roll, then hook to the back of the winch and spool out. When the roll is spooled out, turn the tractor around, hook the winch to the bottom wire area and tug tight, using the pawl to lock it into tightness as a staple is driven home. Repeat to the top and middle, and you have a tightened fence. (You can put a bar or holder to pull the top, middle and bottom tight at the same time, but I have found it is easier just to hook to the bottom, top and middle individually.)

...

As a side note, today I just use my log loader trailer, using the log loader to set the roll of field fence on my last log stake. I then cut the roll loose, spool the wire out and staple to my corner post, then drive ahead, spooling the wire out. When the roll runs out, I swing my loader out, grip the wire, and swing it against the post, and pull it taunt. I then start stapling the wire to the posts. A little bit of the wire gets gnarled up from the grapple, but I jut cut it off using a generator, extension cord, and a cut-off wheel on my 4-1/2 grinder. I realize not everyone has one of these, but it does work good.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

I'll add that the clamp part of the stretcher works well, it's much quicker to clamp it shut than to put on pieces of 2x4 with bolts. And there's no fiddling because it's all self contained. It just doesn't do a good job of tightening. So here's what I'm thinking: If you had a hydraulic tilt cylinder it might make all the difference. Tilt the roll backwards, drive forward until the bottom of the fence is tight. Then tilt the roll forward until the top becomes tight. I think that would give you enough control to do a good job. I just don't know whether you could get enough tilt from a normal cylinder.

 

[countrybumpkin]

I use one of these, but there a bit hard to find anymore.

FARM SHOW - Streching Tool Clamps Onto Woven Wire Fence