Tension Wire Installation

by Walter Hargrave

*** Disclaimer ***

Warning
Corner poles should be 2 1/2" OD and at least .065 wall thickness with extra concrete so they won't move in the ground. If it is sandy, this is even more important!!

Tools Needed

1. Bolt Cutters
   
2. Cable Puller
   
3. Come-along Jack
   
4. Hog Ring Pliers (optional) but makes the job much easier.
   
5. Fencing Pliers or Regular Pliers
   

Parts Needed

1. Tension Wire
   
2. Brace Bands - at least 2
   
3. Galv Nuts and Bolts
   
4. Hog Rings, 1 per foot
   
5. Aluminum Tie Wires
   
6. A few feet of 12ga coated wire to keep the tension wire from unraveling.
   

General Information

The best time to install tension wire is after the top-rail is installed and before the fabric because the wire must go on the outside of the fence line in-between the fabric and the line poles. Hopefully you already have the brace bands on the terminals in place before all the other hardware is installed.

We usually just wrapped up to three corners and used 2 brace bands but if you decide to do this, you must take it slow, easy and with great care. This is also the best way to get a nice uniform tight wire. Short runs are very hard to get tight. Really short runs requires a special tool called a Pul Jak used with the Cable Puller.

Setup Stage

DANGER
If a roll of tension wire "gets away from you", this could be big trouble, so keep it tied until it's time to do a controlled let off of 1 ring at a time.


It's good to have your brace bands a little high with the nuts and bolts installed and somewhat loose so that you can just move the bands up and down with pliers, but not so loose that the bolts could bend or break.

Set your come-along jack on the other end of the jobs terminal pole so as to squeeze the rail on top tight too. This locks the whole job down so to speak :) Set come-along around 5 inches high max and pull out about 3.5 foot of cable for a job 300 foot or less. You should have the Cable Puller(Bulldog) on the jacks hook ready to bite on to the tension wire! Placing the jack to high on the pole could bend it!

Really long lines will stretch out more, and if you miss judge, you can always just start over and get a longer "bite" or reduce the slack in the wire as far as possible, I'll explain how in a minute.

Replace the factory or other wires binding the roll one at a time with your 12ga doubled over coated wire and leave enough length to wrap it like bread with hands not fingers. Do this with the roll standing up like a wheel and in-between your legs. Now go to the other end and slip a ring or two off of the roll, NEVER leave the roll totally untied during the setup process. We always used to take one of the wires off at a time that hold it from unraveling and replacing it with a longer easier to manage version.

This requires a strong arm and back! If you are doing this for your home, then I am going to guess that you don't have a full roll of tension wire to work with. This is a very good thing. If however, you have a full roll to work with then I hope you are a hefty person. If you have 2 people, you could stand the roll up leaving it on the ground and letting off a ring at a time while the other person pulls it around the job. Again, NEVER leave the roll unattended!

First make sure when a ring comes off the roll, it's from the top and from your strong hand. You keep your other hand on the single strand of wire as it comes off.

After practice, the best way we found is to let the rings off and walk backwards down the line pulling as much slack as you go and staying near the line poles around the corners etc. If you have a helper, have them pull the slack after you round the first corner so he doesn't get hit by the rings of off coming wire.


You may be able to roll the wire on the ground real slowly like a wheel, but I got to tell ya, I have never had any real luck with it, mostly ends in a mess.

We would stand the roll up like a wheel, but then put our strong arm inside the hole resting on the bicep and with the same hand holding the top of the roll from unraveling and holding the bottom of the wire firm to control them coming off.

Continue this all the way to the jack and pull the slack best you can to 5 feet past the last terminal and put the roll on the ground like a wheel standing up. Now, in-between the legs holding it with your life while tieing it off at least 3 but better, 4 places! Then lay it flat on the ground. REST :P

Putting Tension on the Tension Wire

Make an L shaped bend about 8 inches long and poke it up thru the tension band and bolt and make a nice tight wrapping at least for times cutting off the excess. Then have a helper pull the slack around to the jack while shaking it up and down a bit and holding it low to the ground while you put the bite down with the Cable Puller connected to the jack. Slowing add tension until the Bulldog holds without slipping. GO VERY SLOW, and after a few clicks go around with pliers and help the tension wire around each corner starting from the farthest point and work back towards the jack. WATCH the ground around the cement on the corners. When you are getting to much of a bind or you are tight, you will see some space where the pole is moving in the ground! Hopefully this isn't happening to early, if the poles are cemented properly.

Once the wire is tight, you should have about 1 or 2 foot from the jack to the brace band to tie the final product off. Cut it 8" longer than needed and make your L bend right about the spot where there will be little or no slack. Then up thru the brace band it should be tight. Use 4 wraps and cut of the excess and release the jack.

Put up your chain link fabric with the tension wire tied off a little high on the lines poles but don't tie off the line poles until you slide the tension wire down to the half diamond before the bottom. It will fit there real nice if you've got it right. As you are tieing off the line poles, go ahead and put a tie around the pole and the tension wire to lock it in to.

Short Runs

If you have a section that is 15 foot or less, don't bother using a come-along. You can just do it by hand by using the plyers to pull the wire around the pole a bit and eyeball where to make your 90 degree bend. You can have a friend mark it with a marker. Also, if you have the Pul-Jak, it works great for short runs.

Installing the Hog Rings

In the image to your left, you can see where the tension wire should rest. Put hog rings a foot apart in staggered left & right angles like the orange lines in the image. Wear a cloth nail belt fir the hog rings and go to town. If there are 2 of you, each start from other side and race to see who can do most! :P Job well done!!

Installing Tension Wire After The Fence is Built

Sure you can, Take the bottom tire wire loose from the line poles. Leave the roll on the out side and secure one end with a braceband with nut and bolt.Run the wire outside the fence down a few feet past the last terminal pole and tie off the ROLL!. On the inside of the fence, connect the come-along 4 1/2 inches from the bottom of the pole. The braceband should be just below this with the nut and bolt just loose enough you can move it around.

Pull out 2 or 3 foot of cable and attach the bull-dog or pipe wrench to the hook on the jack and get all slack out of the cable. Cut the tension wire leaving it at least 3 foot long and feed it to the inside under the chain link.

Now pull as much slack as you can and make a loose L and wrap it around the pool loosely around the out to in so it wont come off. Bring tie wires and at each line pole, starting from the beginning, push the bottom of the chainlink out and pull the tension wire inside against the line pole in between the chainlink and pole. Every second or third pole, pull the tensionwire up about 4 inches high on the line pole and tie it off loose just to hold it up.

Once all the tension wire is inside you are ready to connect the jack and add tension at a slow pace checking the tension and watch the ground around the terminal for movement. Lower the line pole ties to the correct place as shown in the guide, as you tighten it. b Do not over tighten .b ! Once you have it tight, tie off the tension wire to each line pole tightly and in place.

Now tie off the wire to the corner pole by holding the loose end and eye the point where it will be at the inside of the bolt in the braceband. Make an L at that point and cut it at a foot long. Take the L and feed it into the braceband from the bottom up. With a pair of plyers ready, start wrapping the L around itself within 1 inch of the braceband opening and try to keep the wraps tight and close together, 3-4 times is enough. Release the jack and knock the bracebands and tension wire down or up into place and tighten braceband bolts a bit on both ends.

Begin the hog rings as shown in the guide.


Links

Stretching Tension Wire