Fixing a Broken Top Rail on a Chain Link Fence
by
Jan Marie
6 Materials
$10
45 Minutes
Easy
Chain link fences are not my favorite style of fence but I dislike a broken chain link fence even more.
We can only speculate on how this top rail of the chain link fence became broken and how the post ended up bent. We think that when the ground froze during the winter, the post was pushed upward but because the top rail is attached to the post, the post bent and then finally the insert connector broke.
In the photo 'above' you can see the insert in the top rail is broken. The photo 'below' shows the bent post.
The first thing we needed to do was to straighten the post. We used a chain and a ratcheting come along. The come along chain was wrapped around the fence post 6 inches from the top and another chain connected the truck bumper (we used the unused hole for a trailer hitch ball) to the come along. The truck bumper was the fixed point and by ratcheting the come along, the post slowly straightened. We over corrected because we figured that there would be some rebound and we were correct.
Here is the video of the post going from bent to straight. Easy peasey.
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At this point we have a straight post but a broken rail and we need to insert the top rail connector sleeve so that the top rail is once again one continuous rail. But to do this we need to go to the end of the rail and remove the rail from the rail end. This will allow us to use a small sledge hammer to make the space longer between the two pieces of top rail.
We used pliers to remove the broken insert out of the top rail. Then we inserted the connecting sleeve onto one end of the top rail and then inserted the other end of the top rail into the other end of the connecting sleeve.
The photo below is of the connecting sleeve. You can buy these at Home Depot in the fence department.
We reconnected the top rail to the end post and we were done.
This repair was actually quite fast, easy, and cheap. We also purchased a bag of fence ties which are lengths of thick wire that you use to attach the chain link to the posts and top rails.
Total cost for 1 sleeve and 1 bag of fence ties.....$10.20
It is still a chain link fence but now it is no longer a broken chain link fence.
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