Pickup-Mounted ATV Winds Fence Wire




"It works great for rolling up temporary electric fence," says Leland Wohler, Barnes, Kan., who uses a 4-wheel ATV in the back of his pickup to roll up fence wire used to put livestock out on pasture.

Wohler jacks the ATV's rear axle up onto a wooden block, then bolts a 12-in. dia. wheel rim (the tail wheel off an old White 1100 plow) outside of one of the rear wheels. He starts wire onto the rim by tying it onto the valve stem hole, then puts the ATV in gear and lets out the clutch.

"It's a simple idea but it works well," says Wohler. "I guide wire onto the wheel rim while my wife controls the ATV. She usually puts it in second gear. After the wheel has been running for a while she can speed up the throttle so we can roll up the wire faster. We had been winding up wire by hand which took a lot of work and time. I didn't want to spend the money for a commercial pto-driven wire winder.

"I can put more than 1/2 mile of wire on the wheel rim. However, I plan to weld a 1-in. wide extension onto it for even more capacity."