Ratcheting Load Bars vs Jack Bars

If you have a plate dry van, ratched bars are better since the van walls flex. The other are a gear driven that only expands a few inches, where the ratched ones extend out far enough to stay in place when the walls flex. The gear ones work better for newer reefer drivers so they don't put a hole in the interior by putting too much pressure. There use to be the kind that had a spring inside, and you would extend it against the spring then when a van trailer's walls would flex, the spring absorbed it and stayed in place.

 

If you ever run across one of these, be careful. That handle can spin hard enough to break bones. I know.

There is a cylinder inside, like a screen door closer, that controls the release, but it can fail. And the early models didn't have that little feature.