Product Description

The HitchMate Cargo Stabilizer Bar is one of the strongest cargo bars available on the market. It extends from 50" to 65" to fit a wide variety of compact truck bed widths. This bar is easy to adjust and features a sliding bar to keep your gear from shifting laterally during turns. The HitchMate Cargo Stabilizer Bar is ideal for cross-town trips or longer road trips at highway speed.

---

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #113353 in Automotive
• Size: COMPACT
• Color: Silver
• Brand: Heininger
• Model: 4015
• Released on: 2004-01-01
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 5.00" h x 5.00" w x 59.00" l, 9.00 pounds

Features

• Heavy-Duty ratcheting system adjusts easily
• Comes fully assembled
• Built strong for tough loads
• Rubber feet prevents slippage on and scratching of truck beds
• Fits compact trucks (expandable from 50" to 65")

---

Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews

22 of 27 people found the following review helpful.
Very sturdy but inconvenient to use....
By md
This would be a 1 star item for me except that it does get +1 star for not being the normal cheap "This won't last more than a few months" cargo bar found at home depot etc. This thing is very solid and obviously durable and robust... a little bit too much so to be honest. This is not the "throw stuff in the back and use the cargo bar" item I was hoping for, for quite a few reasons...

First, it's very sturdy and well built... which also means heavy and large and inconvenient to move around the back of your truck. It's not easy to handle and change positions with, a fact made worse by the other shortcomings of this cargo bar....

Second, unlike even the cheap-o ratcheting cargo bars this one doesn't ratchet repeatedly, allowing you to extend the bar with the ratchet until it's tight but not too tight... with this one you must set the initial width by eyeball and then engage the ratchet (which doesn't actually ratchet, it's just a geared handle that extends the inner bar)... but if your initial guess at width was too short there won't be enough tension and if you guessed too long there's too much tension and it will bend your bed... so you have to set it, release it, reset it, release it, reset it over and over to get the tension strong enough to prevent items sliding but not so strong that it bends your bed. And with this thing being nice and big and heavy... that's a really tiring and annoying routine.

Third, the instant you release the tension on this bar it's completely loose again, so you can't even figure out a good width and just leave it at that width for next time, you have to go through the tedious "eyball, set, release, eyball, set, release" procedure every time you use it.

Fourth, the ratchet handle is positioned towards the middle of the unit (you can see this in the pictures) so you have to lean well into your truck to use the ratchet handle, and if you have a large truck you'll have to actually get IN the truck bed to set this thing.

Fifth, when it's under load the ratchet handle is conveniently designed to whack you right in the hand when you release the tension, it's like a mouse trap that will bash your knuckles good and hard if you're not careful how you release it.

Basically this cargo bar is well made but a real hassle to use. I wanted a simple, durable and convenient way to secure stuff I throw in the back of my truck... this scores well on the simple and durable part but there's nothing convenient about it at all. Too much of a hassle to return, so I'll use it, but I won't be getting another one.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
cargo bar
By Joshua Brianas
it works great, it is heavy duty, functions properly,
my only gripe is corrosion resistance-- after only 2-3 weeks
in the bed of my truck the bar has started rusting, some of the pictures
are misleading the large visible part of the bar, the outer tube is just
mild steel painted with thin black paint, ill probably just keep touching
it up with a can of rustoleum. if the manufacturer reads this- please
look into powder coat or cadmium plating

but overall it does its job very well- it is just going to be ugly

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
Glad I purchased
By David in Richmond
This product has helped to have a handy support for various cargo in the back of a truck. I looked at several others, but found that they did not have the ease of use that this one has. It is sturdy and has not slipped once. I also purchased the unit that attaches to the bar as pictured. I have found easy to engage and detach, with no twisting etc. A bit pricey, but this was as good a deal as I found.