How Does the Cam Pin Work?

For a door to work, you need hinges. Pins hold the shipping container’s hinges together through a barrel. In certain cases when doors are difficult to open, hinge pins and blades may be seized due to corrosion.

Each door is fitted with 2 to 4 vertical lock rods to enable opening, closing and locking of the doors.

The door handle rotates the lockbar to initiate the door opening process by forcing the cams out of their keepers. Each door handle has a door locking handle retainer that slides over the door handle when in locked position.

Cam Pins

At the end of each lock rod is a cam welded in place which engages with knuckles, also known as cam keepers. The action of engaging the cams to the keepers forms an anti-racking function. In certain cases, often unfortunately too many, contents of the shipping container may have shifted causing shipping container doors and lockrods to warp.

When opening a shipping container, start with the right hand door first. Swivel the handles, engage the cams and keepers, and twist both door handles. Closing the doors is just a reverse of this process.

The lock box is a steel box welded to the right hand door which overlaps a staple welded to the left hand door. A padlock, normally CISA type 285 66 can then be attached inside the lock box through the staple and is then protected from direct attack, hindering attempts to gain entry to the container.

ISO markings and a consolidated data plate allow worldwide intermodal transport and are updated as necessary.

Take note that customs authorities in some countries may also have their own container seal regulations as part of their national security.

Rubber gaskets are fitted to the container doors during the manufacturing process and prevent water ingress. Door gaskets are designed to present two or more fins against the structure or adjacent door. These are generally flexible but when the gasket is damaged, they may become stiff thus jamming the door closed, or preventing it from being closed.

Shipping containers often take a beating, traveling around the world, being exposed to freezing conditions and rust due to seawater or when the frost has melted.

During the cold season, and in freezing parts of the world, our shipping container tool can benefit the opening and closing of frozen shipping container doors and hard to open or rusted containers.

Injuries often occur as a result of personnel trying to open and close difficult container doors, and often are the result of inappropriate techniques being used to open them.

To aid in opening and closing shipping container doors, we introduce OPNBar.

Door Latch Handle Extender

Our tool assists the truck driver or yard worker in opening and closing hard to open container doors, frozen shipping container doors and rusted doors and locking mechanisms found on conventional style (side by side) doors, allowing opening and closing of frozen shipping container or rusted doors to be a great deal easier.

As a Door Latch Handle Extender, it is a safety leverage bar to assist the truck driver and operator in opening and closing shipping container doors. Great for opening and closing cargo containers that are rusted or frozen!

• Leverage tool uses the principles of leverage to do the difficult work
• Promotes safety, reduces injury and workman’s comp claims.
• Leverage helps to loosen hinge pins and blades that are seized due to corrosion
• Leverage helps to loosen damaged or frozen gaskets preventing shipping container doors from opening and closing.
• Eliminates the need for additional tools.

Tire Thumper

The Tire Thumper function assists the truck driver in a quick method of evaluating properly inflated tires for truck driver safety. Properly inflated tires make a loud, sharp thud. Poorly inflated tires make a dull thud.

A quick and easy way to check tire pressure is by thumping your tires. Some trucks have many tires and tire thumping is the fastest method for checking tire pressure before hitting the road.

• Tire Thumper (aka tire beater) assists the truck driver and operator in evaluating properly inflated tires.
• Some trucks have many tires and tire thumping is the fastest method for checking tire pressure before hitting the road.
• If there is air in the tire, the tire thumper will bounce easily and make a loud, sharp thud; and if the tire is flat (no air) it will not bounce much and will give a sound like a dull thud when it is smacked.
• Eliminates the need for additional tools.

5th Wheel Pull Hook

The 5th Wheel Pull Hook assists the truck driver in releasing the fifth wheel which can cause neck, shoulder and back injury, damaging your clothes with grease, oil, and road grime. This pull hook can help eliminate these problems.

Using a strong 5th wheel hitch pull hook is recommended when separating a tractor from the trailer to help reduce neck, back, and shoulder and other injuries associated with having to reach under a trailer in order to release the tractor from the trailer.

• Soft-metal hooks (such as those made from aluminum) are unsafe as they are too susceptible to bending. Our hook is made of heavy-duty, rust-resistant steel.
• Reaching under the trailer to release the fifth wheel can cause neck, shoulder and back injury, as well as, damaging your clothes with grease, oil, and road grime. Our 5th Wheel Release Hitch Pull Hook can help eliminate these problems.
• Eliminates the need for additional tools.

Container Seal Breaker

OPNBar also acts as a Shipping Container Seal Breaker, for plastic and metal, which can eliminate the need for wire cutters when on the go.

Cam Pin Compressor

OPNBar also acts as a Shipping Container or Trailer Cam Pin Compressor, for misaligned cams and keepers.  Placing OPNBar underneath the cam can give leverage to align the cam with the keeper.

T Handle Toolbox Latch Tool

OPNBar also acts as a T Handle toolbox latch tool for stuck latches.  The groove in the OPNBar tool can fit over T Handle toolbox headache rack latches when difficult to turn them.

OPNBar’s Version 2.1 Tool

Version 2.1 features an optional female screw attachment at the base of the bar that allows the operator to add on different extensions for different leverage uses.

In version 2.1, we removed the 5th wheel hook from the front of the tool, and now offer an optional 5th wheel hook extention. You will find that this extention is much thicker and stronger than typical 5th wheel hooks sold on the market today.