Kinedyne of Branchburg, N.J., a designer, manufacturer and distributor of cargo control technologies, including cargo securement, capacity and access solutions for the transportation industry, introduced the EASE-Z Winch Bar family today.
The EASE-Z Winch Bar is a patented Z-shaped winch bar that rotates 360 degrees, providing users with greater leverage. The bar comes in one standard model and two combination versions that have modified handles that can be used to release tension on chain binders.
Traditional winch bars are straight with a slightly angled tip. While effective in many cases, the bars essentially function as a classic lever and make it more difficult for users to exert the proper amount of force when in certain positions or when clearance is limited.
The EASE-Z Winch Bar is different. The tough, heat-treated carbon-steel and mushroom-shaped head of the EASE-Z Winch Bar is tapered for easy insertion, and helps keep the bar seated in the winch cap, and preventing it from slipping out during revolution and when the user is applying torque. A knurled non-slip handle with a flanged grip ring on the bar’s upper shaft helps prevent it from slipping out of users’ hands even in moist conditions.
The Z-shaped EASE-Z Winch Bar can be rotated up to 360 degrees, enabling users to optimally position themselves and the bar to deliver superior leverage when tensioning winch straps. The rotation of the bar without having to remove it from the winch cap eyelet provides a pivoting action that lets users quickly orient the bar as needed to avoid obstacles and to achieve optimum posture while applying up or down force.
“The EASE-Z Winch Bar is the ergonomically sensible alternative to traditional straight winch bars, and can be part of a fleet’s plan to reduce work-related injuries,” said Bob Dissinger director of sales – United States for Kinedyne LLC. “The contoured, extruded Z-shape, bent-bar offset design can reduce back, shoulder and arm strain by eliminating the need to exert excessive upward or downward force on the bar at awkward angles.”
The bars are painted in high-visibility Kinedyne orange. The tool’s angled shape is more stable and is unlikely to roll away when laid on the ground or on the deck of a flatbed trailer. The EASE-Z Winch Bar is available in three models. The 80177 standard bar comes in a length of 34 inches. The 80178 combination bar has a handle with greater girth, can be used to release tension on chain binders and comes in a length of 34 inches. The 80179 combination box-end model can also be used to release tension on chain binders and comes in a length of 39 inches.