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He Rolls Up Wire At 10 MPH
When Fred Davison needs to roll up barbed wire, he hops in his old pickup, flips a toggle switch and starts driving. The wire wraps around a hydraulic-powered spinning tractor tire rim that spins on the arm of an old Dew Eze hydraulic bale handler.
  "It can roll up wire at 10 mph and go around corners without stopping," says the Highwood, Montana, rancher.
  Davison says the key is a variable pressure relief valve, which keeps an even pressure on the wire to wrap it tightly on the rim, no matter what speed he travels.
  Davison built the device when he had to move 3/4 mile of barbed wire fence. "I wanted to make a good roll, so I could re-use the wire later," he says.
  He works with one strand of wire at a time, laying the wire on the ground and keeping the end attached to the last post. He runs the wire through a guide in front of the tire rim and uses Vise Grip pliers to attach the wire to the edge of the rim.
  He flips the toggle switch in his cab to engage the hydraulic motor to spin the rim and drives along.
  He can wrap about 1/4 mile of wire on the rim. He was surprised how easy it is to work around corners.
  To remove the wire rolls, he swings the rim down to the ground behind the pickup with the bale arm. He unbolts the strapping holding the wire on the rim and slips the neatly rolled wire off. He bolts the strapping back on, swings the rim back in place, and he's ready to go again.
  Davison says his device works just as well unrolling the wire to put fence up.
  "I like things easy," says Davison, 77, who is a member of an inventors group and has won honors for agriculture innovations. "This is the best roller upper I've ever seen or used."
  Plans are available on how to fabricate the unit.
  Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Fred Davison, Many Hills Ranch, 1979 Upper Highwood Creek Road, Highwood, Montana 59450 (ph 406 733-5031; davisonfred@yahoo.com).


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2008 - Volume #32, Issue #2