Heininger 4015 HitchMate Cargo Stabilizer Bar for Compact Trucks

This is a true Heavy Duty Cargo Stabilizer Bar and it's all metal except for the rubber pads which are molded completely around metal supports. Each pad rotates freely on a pivot bolt. The rack (geared horizontal section) is also heavy duty metal with its terminus firmly thru-bolted to the inner tube. The small silver "lever" located on the side of the housing holding the geared handle is basically a spring-loaded "catch" to prevent the handle from moving once secured. The inner tube appears to be coated with some type of translucent gold colored coating, possibly to make it resistant to corrosion. The outer tube and rack are painted black and while the rack and the handle assembly appear not to be a powder coated finish, it seems to be a good coat. The outer tube appears to be powder coated. Will this damage your truck bed? The shortest width bed this can handle once latched is 59-1/2 inches, so if your bed is narrower than this then the answer to your question is definitely yes. The force this unit can apply if one isn't paying attention and just applying brute force is sufficient to possibly force the sides outward. Once a tooth is selected the inner tube will travel 1-1/8 inches outward during the full-engagement/lever catch process. So divide this by 2, and thus the deflection toward each side wall is 9/16 inches. Each "tooth" you move the inner bar inward results in a minus 1/4 inch total length. So, if your bed width is 64 inches and you extend the bar to 64 inches and close the handle the final length installed will be 65-1/8 inches. Move the inner bar inward to catch the next tooth reduces that engaged total length to 64-7/8 inches, and so on. So you can adjust how much tension you put on your bed sidewalls. My suggestion is have someone assist the first time this bar is used. Place it in one of the desired locations in the bed and install it with the amount of tension to firmly secure the bar. Then while it is installed, measure 1-1/8 inches away from the end of the floating portion of the toothed rack (the part that floats above the outer tube) and use colored vinyl electrical tape to place one wrap around the outer tube such that the edge of the tape is aligned with the aforementioned measurement. To check proper placement of the tape, release the handle and slowly swing it open, and as the bar shortens the end of the rack should line up with that tape's edge. If not, try again. For subsequent uses, just slide out the inner tube until the end of the rack aligns with the tape's edge and close the handle. You can repeat this process for multiple fit locations. Due to its weight, it is a bit awkward for one person to install, however it can be done and the trick is to find its balance point with length about where it's needed, lift it into place and secure handle.

It's a smaller version of a class 8 load lock. It works very well. The lock and rack assembly is well built and strong. If you're looking to secure your treasures from movement inside your pickup or trailer this is the one.

So I initially bought one of those crappy ratchet bars which sorta held but was flimsy and just garbage. So for a little more $$ I saw this one. I like to read through the negative reviews and saw a lot of people complaining it was hard to put in place, they couldn't adjust it properly, was either too tight or too loose, etc. All I can say is don't listen to all that BS unless you're very weak or have very poor coordination. I literally just came in from installing this bar for the first time and it took me 30 seconds tops. It was so easy. All I did was release the handle, Slide it out until it had a small space, push the left side over against the bed with my left hand and with my right hand pulled the handle. Done, that was it. As long as you consistently eyeball a small space on one side I see no reason why this should be any kind of chore.So yeah I have used it once and can already tell its a million times better than the other flimsy bar. I spent way more time screwing with the flimsy bar cause it never wanted to get tight, the ratchet would just pop up and out.Edit: 2 month update: This bar is amazing! I've moved it from the front to the back, taken it out. Load stuff up put it back. It's easy to use. It's strong as hell and it doesn't go anywhere. It's easy to press it against one wall, leave a slight gap on the other side and flip the bar down. I really don't see how people struggle with this???

This cargo bar is very heavy duty and has worked well. But if I had to do it again I would choose one with a different style mechanism. This one can be very difficult to adjust properly.

Very solid build and good quality material. When expanding it and locking it in place, its not going anywhere and neither is the stuff you plan on securing with it.

This took less than ten minutes to unbox, put together and install. Product is very sturdy, heavy weight and well made. Fits our 2021 GMC Sierra with no issues.We ordered the cargo stabilizer bar attachment to go with it and had issues with it missing screws but I emailed the company directly and they immediately remedied the situation, even though it was no fault of their own. Wonderful customer service! Highly recommend this company and product.

The media could not be loaded. No playing around on this one. The body tubes are heavy duty as is the ratchet. There’s no fine tuning by turning threaded rods on the pads, so take care to leave it 1/2-1” short before throwing the ratchet over. Otherwise you might blow your side panels out, it’s that strong.The tube diameters are larger than any other load bar I’ve purchased (at very similar prices), so the Load Dividers fit well. Get two. Face one forward, the other backward for additional versatility.

The build quality of this is second to none. I have used it to hold in multiple 5 gallon buckets of paint and nothing moved at all. I would highly recommend this to anybody who has a full-size truck and needs a robust bar to keep things in place.