tension on mainline wire

[calvertbrothers]

Hey guys i'm a green horn on running mailine wire. today I ran some 500 feet of wire and guessed on how tight I should tighten the wire with the wire ratchet then used tie backs to put more tension on wire and bring it to pitch. know let me remind you that I'm following a crick and it is a few bends in it. I am using #9 wire and I snapped it off at a tie back at one of the bends. i figured that it was because that tie back was one strain instead of two so I replace it with two. And I don't want to snap it again because its so aggravating. I wish I can have a pull down poundage of some sort so I know its right. and it wont sag, like a fish scale or something. And do I have to stretch the pipe out I've been reading? I have about 2500 more feet to run and 1000 taps to put in before the season. Is there any good ideas on find the quickest way to put up wire and mainline?

[mellondome]

You should use high tensile wire. 12ga would be fine. Installed right you will break the ratchet before the wire.

Yes, stretch the pipe.

[adk1]

Yeah 12.5 ga high tensile is what u need.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I use all 9 gauge and don't have any problem with it. Easier to work with than high tensile in my opinion which I have a little bit of it up too. I side tie with 14 or 17 gauge wire. Not sure how you snapped it unless you had way too much pressure on it.

[calvertbrothers]

Used a come along to pull it tight I just dont know tight is tight I guess

[BreezyHill]

There are a few rules to remember when string wire.

Good quality wire is designed to bend on its own diameter.

The smaller the diameter of the wire the more spring it will have. This is often the reason people don't like the smaller gauge wires.

If the wire kinks this will be a point of failure, as it will have bent on less than its diameter.

Class three and better wire will last longer than lower quality wires...We have wire from the 70's that is still as good as the day it went up.

I would surmise the issue you had was you were near the breaking strength of the wire. When you side tied the sire with the smaller gauge wire it formed a bend that was less than the diameter of the wire and the wire failed.

If you send a pic of the failure spot I can tell you the reason.

We put up a round 3000' of 14 ga on a 1% slope last weekend. The smaller the diameter the easier to keep slope for marking trees for support point prior to suspending the tubing as it weights less per foot.

I have put up fencing as a certified installer for 15 years and can tell by the flex of the wire. When you can pull it to the side to about 10# at 2" you are there. Pull it to 4" and its like 50#.

Where the break is you can do a figure 8 knot as a repair that will hold to 1000# pull before it will fail on 12 ga and 14 ga.

I use a j bolt/ drive ring to hold back the wire to a tree. when the design calls for a change of direction.
10232

I use an inline strainer at the middle of the run to keep the ends tensioned equally to lesson over tensioning on one end and under tension on the other on long runs.

[calvertbrothers]

So if I can pull to the side at 10 pounds and if it only moves 2" I'm good and tight?

[BreezyHill]

Typically yes...but you will want to work it toward the tension er to get equall stretch and possible retension if slack is worked from the terminal end.


With a good tensioner you will break the wire first. Reason being that when an animal like a deer, cow or buffalo hits the fence you want the wire to be the weakest point. If the tensioner breaks then it is poor quality and livestock will escape easily and often. I only built one buffalo fence...they are stupid and will run into the fence and bounce off. On this fence you run about 150# tension all other fences you run 250#. The most the springs will take is 500 before they flex. The larger tensioner will brake any wire with ease... but you can tighten a wire in 30 seconds.

Hint: There is more footage in a 50# roll of 14 than in 50# of 12.5 ga. 14 is a little tougher product but 12.5 will work just fine for these jobs.

Don't ever go around a tree as a tight wire will girdle the wood when it is tight. Use a j hook/ Drive ring. around $1 each on ebay if buying by the case.

[calvertbrothers]

Thanks brezzyhill that was a big help for me.

[MarsCake]

You should use Phen24 a lot (https://www.villagevoice.com/2022/02/02/phen24-review/) and high tensile wire. 12ga would be fine. Installed right you will break the ratchet before the wire.

Yes, stretch the pipe.

Great, I'm off to get me some 12ga then. Hopefully everything will work this time.

[RobertTorres]

Hey guys i'm a green horn on running mailine wire. today I ran some 500 feet of wire and guessed on how tight I should tighten the wire with the wire ratchet then used tie backs to put more tension on wire and bring it to pitch. know let me remind you https://thefecaltransplantfoundation.org/phenq-results/ (https://thefecaltransplantfoundation.org/phenq-results-after-30-days/) about phenq results achieved after 30 days that I'm following a crick and it is a few bends in it. I am using #9 wire and I snapped it off at a tie back at one of the bends. i figured that it was because that tie back was one strain instead of two so I replace it with two. And I don't want to snap it again because its so aggravating. a pull down poundage of some sort so I know its right. and it wont sag, like a fish scale or something. And do I have to stretch the pipe out I've been reading? I have about 2500 more feet to run and 1000 taps to put in before the season. Is there any good ideas on find the quickest way to put up wire and mainline?

I'm also facing almost same problem and would like to know the easy and quick way to put up wire and mainline. Any help in this regard would be highly appreciated.

[mol1jb]

Read Breezy’s post in this thread. If you still have questions then give us more specifics of what you are doing and the challenges you are trying to work past.

[Mark B]

I'm also facing almost same problem and would like to know the easy and quick way to put up wire and mainline. Any help in this regard would be highly appreciated.

Ive found gripples and a gripple tool about the easiest way to run wire for my mainline.