Fence Building - Barb Wire Racks

[GaryBDavis]

In need to fabricate a rack for unrolling barbwire for fence building, but can’t seem to find any pictures to get ideas from.

I’d like to be able to do a seven wire fence in one pass. I’m thinking a 3pt mount to use with the tractor. If I had a flatbed pickup, I’d make the rack to fit it and secure it through the stake pockets. Someone told me they’ve seen them made with plow disks with a fixed spindle.

If anyone has pictures or ideas for one, let me know. I’ve seen plenty of the single rollers made for hitch receivers, ATVs, etc, but I’m looking to build a frame that would do several rolls at once.

Thanks!

 

[CharlieTR]

Here is a link to a TSC fence puller on 3pt.
Not sure if this model is barb wire compatible though.

Tractor Supply Company - 3-PT. WIRE UNROLLER & STRETCHER

 

[redlevel]

I've tried to roll out more than one strand at the time. I always wound up with a tangled mess that made me forget my Mama's teachings about not using strong language. I just roll 'em out one at the time now.

Mark

 

[schmism]

this happens to be a powered one so that you can tention it and or roll it back up....

 

[CATMAN]

I'm with redlevel on this one. Do one it a time, pull one direction, pull it tight, attach to corner/brace post, attach next wire and pull the opposite direction, and repeat. Helps to have second person to either pound staples to the wood posts or attach clips to steel posts after the wire is pulled tight. I did build my Dad a single roll wire unroller years ago. It uses 2 old,steel horse buggy wheels, two disc blades, axle shaft about 1" diameter w/holes drilled at each end for some snap clips(same as 3 pt hitch pins). The handle is like a 6 foot U-bolt shape. It was built for walking behind(downhill) or pulling it when on level ground. When Dad builds fence by himself, he starts on top of the hill and pushes it down while unrolling, then for next strand, he puts the 6 foot U- bolt handle over the ball hitch of the pickup and just tows it up the hill(not unrolling), then starts at the top again(easier to unroll downhill). Back in October, after harvest, he and I put up some 5-wire barbed wire fence together and on the level ground I pulled it each direction. The disc blades are on the sides of the roll of barded wire. Before this was build, we tried a bar thru the 3 pt hitch lower arms(not too good) or my older brother and I would just use 1" bar thru the wire roll and walk together trying to kept the roll centered so it won't catch our gloves/hands. Honestly, I can't imagine trying to keep 7 wires from not getting into each other OR you know how the new wire doesn't want to release from the roll itself sometimes and you have to stop and get it unstuck before you proceed.(just think of the headaches with 7 new rolls all at the same time!) I don't know if I helped, but I just thought I would share a little.

 

[CATMAN]

I see you have a 5420 with a loader. I have an idea that might work for the front end loader. I like the loader idea better than three point hitch because you can see the wire rolls in front of you without constantly turning around. This will be important when one roll gets hung up. One idea is to put long bar(16'-20' in the bucket. Parallel with front axle. Attach bar to bucket firmly, then slide on wire rolls onto that bar that extends outside bucket and tire tracks. You might be able to put two rolls on each side and drive slowly forward while watching for hangups. Maybe use old disc blades plus visegrips on the bar to hold each roll where you want it. Second idea is going to take some fabrication. Still use the loader(you can lower the loader to lift on the heavy rolls of wire), but this idea requires you to backup during the unrolling process. Think of a dinner fork ,hold it vertical, and how the tines of that fork (if spaced out about three feet apart) could each hold a roll of barbed wire. You could build this TINE attachment to fit the loader bucket when the bucket is in the curled back position.(curled back=would make the tines point straight up vertically) You would then hold bucket up 3-4 feet off the ground while you backed down the side of the fence line and you could easily watch the rolls unwinding. Maybe put a disc blade under each roll. I hope you understand my vision, then again you may think my imagination has gone wild.

 

[MF1455v]

Here is what I have been using for horse mesh. It is a copy of wrought'n harv's from here on TBN. It works better than a pocket on a shirt. Same design should work with something to space the rolls out.

James

 

[GaryBDavis]

It works better than a pocket on a shirt.

Seems I've heard Harv say that same thing.

I've seen pictures of his v-mesh unroller and his stretcher to go along with it. I think we need Harv to design a barbwire spooler so we can copy it too.

Now that I've thought about it a bit, I'm leaning towards a rack that I can fit in the back of my Polaris Ranger. It would be made to be lifted with pallet forks. That way, I could use it in the back of the Ranger, a pickup truck bed, flat bed, trailer or on the 5420 FEL with the pallet forks. When not in use, I could use the tractor to store it high upon the pallet racking I installed in my shop for storage. Perhaps I could incorporate Harvy's mesh roller into the design. The wheels are still grinding away in my head...

 

[weldingisfun]

Here is what I have been using for horse mesh. It is a copy of wrought'n harv's from here on TBN. It works better than a pocket on a shirt. Same design should work with something to space the rolls out.

James

I like that! It looks like a rotating link at the top fastened to a rod or pipe running through the fence roll and welded or fastened to a round plate at the bottom. Is that right? How do you keep it from pulling back away from the direction of travel, or is that not a problem?

 

[MF1455v]

It does lean a little on the last 10 of 15 feet of the roll. By then the roll is light enough to handle. The reason I think it works is due to the pipe being about 1/4 inch thick and the bottom plate is also 1/4 inch thick. I have the weight working on my side.

If I remember right, Harvey's design has the center pipe passing thru the top bar keeping it from leaning in the direction of the pull.

I built mine using stuff I had around the house. I just wanted to get thru the last 5 200ft rolls on my place. It has now been used on about 30 rolls and still is working great. As soon as it fails I will build one to match Harvey's.

Thanks again Harvey.

James

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Gary, the way they use the plow discs is to keep the rolls separate while unrolling.

Thirty years ago I bid on a great big job, hundred miles or so. It was five strands of barbwire with t posts and braces in California. When I went to the pre-bid I realized I'd stepped out of my league. This was a phase three of a continuing job. The boys doing it had miles of experience to work out the bugs.

What they had was wire holder that held tension along with a post driver. This was on a small crawler, D-3 if I remember right. They had one crawler clearing the right of way and setting braces. That was followed with the wire dispenser post pounding rig. A third crawler followed doing clean up.

Here's some ideas for you to consider.

One, the pilot rod should be hex bar. Then the separator plates should have hex holes to match the bar. I would weld tabs on both sides of separator plates that will grip the rolls of wire. These could and should be short so that they engage only the wire frame and not the barb wire itself.

Two, I'd want the hex bar to have a mechanism that allowed the tension to be adjustable. I'm thinking a sleeve that fits over the hex bar and with a coarse acme style thread with threaded collar to tightening. For tension I'd rig a disc brake assembly like that found on small motorcycles or go karts. Cable would work, hydraulic would probably be better.

The hiccups are of course uneven terrain and different factory tensions in the rolls of wire. This might be compensated for with a stand off rod or bar like that found on the Wire Hog or a comparable product.

A friend of mine does a lot of farm fence and he just uses pipe with plow discs for separating so if you're not going to make this job a career that might be the place to start.

James, I'm glad you like the wire unroller. I heard the other day people are now buying shirts without pockets. What's this world coming to?

 

[GaryBDavis]

100 miles of fence? Now that would be some project.

I've about three to four thousand feet left to build in the next year or so. I think I'll stick with a three or four roll non-tensioned design and just let it lay on the ground where it falls. I'll tension up each wire separately by come-a-long as usual. I think if you lay out any more than that without keeping tension on them, they will get tangled up beyond all hope. Plus, if I keep the rack small, I can put it in the back of the Polaris Ranger which should be small enough to weave in and out of the trees. For a nine wire run, which is the most I’ll ever do, I’ll have to make three runs down the fence line, but since I’m a small time fence builder, that’s okay.

BTW, my new welding trailer made Millers latest Powerclick e-publication under Shop Talk. Last time I looked, the post had over 6000 hits.

PowerClickIssue82006

 

[L3650]

Here is one that claims it can unroll up to six strands at a time.

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