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This hitch takes care of tight-turn clearance all by itself. The automatic slider gives you 22-1/2" of travel front to back, so when you make a sharp turn, the head glides toward the tailgate for extra cab clearance and then slides back into position when you straighten out. You don’t have to pull levers or get in and out of the cab to make slow-speed turns—everything happens smoothly through the built-in roller-and-guide assembly that moves as your trailer turns.
A single-piece wraparound jaw completely surrounds the king pin for 360-degree contact. That tight fit means less rattle and less chucking on the road. A 3/4" thick solid steel locking bar backs up the connection for extra peace of mind. Once the jaw closes, it automatically locks into place, so you know your trailer is secure and ready for towing without any second-guessing.
The double-pivot head moves both front to back and side to side, helping to absorb bumps and reduce strain on your setup. Three polyurethane dampeners cushion the movement to keep things quiet and comfortable mile after mile. When you back under the pin box, the head pivots naturally into alignment, making hookup simple even if your trailer isn’t perfectly level.
Every truck and trailer combo rides a little different, so this hitch gives you three height settings—15-1/4", 16-1/2", and 18"—to get your trailer level and maintain proper bed rail clearance. The side plates bolt directly to industry-standard above-bed rails, locking in with included safety pins. Once mounted, you can raise or lower the head height as needed without hassle.
With a gross towing weight rating of 13,000 lbs and a vertical load limit of 3,250 lbs, this steel hitch is ready for steady towing under real-world loads. The rust-resistant black powder coat finish helps it stand up to weather and road grime. It’s a solid setup that feels stable when you’re hitched up and rolling down the highway.
Alternate Instructions
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Hello everybody, this is Jeff at etrailer.com. Today. We're going to take a look at this Replacement Head and Base Assembly for the Demco Hijacker Autoslide 5th Wheel Trailer Hitches. Has a 13,000 pound gross towing weight capacity. Now this will replace the head and the base assembly on your Demco Hijacker Autoslide 5th Wheel Trailer Hitch. It is designed to fit the hitch part number DM8550040 and part number DM8550041.This 5th Wheel Hitch will mount in the bed of your short bed truck so that you can tow your 5th Wheel Trailer.
The hitch does come all pre-assembled for easy installation, all you have to do is bolt on the side plates and attach the head to the hitch face. Now, this does offer an automatic slider, which provides clearance that's required for your short bed truck to turn safely at slow speeds. There's no more getting in or out of your truck to operate a manual slider.This rotating hitch head will turn up to 90 degrees with your trailer. The rotation will create the force that propels that automatic slider. So basically the head will slide towards the tailgate when you turn, and back towards the cab when you straighten out.
Total travel it'll give you as about 22 and a half inches front to back. The roller and guide assembly that's underneath here in the base, creates a nice, smooth and controlled movement. If you notice on the hitch head right here, they have these built-in brackets. This just stabilizes your pin box so the king pin won't rotate in the hitch, and there is no need for any separate capture plate for a standard non cushion pin box.It is a rail free design, allows for full access to your truck bed when the hitch is removed. Does offer two separate tracks to allow for up to two and three quarter inches of side to side clearance, to keep your pin box from hitting your bed rails.
The jaw on this hitch head here is a nice wrap around single piece jaw, provides a nice secure connection. Gives you a 360 degree jaw to king pin contact, which will give you less rattle, more security than the slide bar jaws. Now, at the end of this video, I'm going to demonstrate how the king pin will slide in here. It does also use, if you look in front of the wraparound jaw, this bar right here, it's a three quarter-inch thick, solid steel locking bar. This'll reinforce the connection of your coupled trailer.
This will automatically lock into place when your jaw closes.The hitch head itself is a double pivot hitch head, eases hook-up helps limit chucking, pivots front to back and side to side. They do use cushioning polyurethane dampeners underneath the hitch head to help reduce noise, absorb any road shock. And the handle on this head is a nice spring loaded handle, has a nice comfort grip, allows for simple coupling. And they do use this tethered safety pin right here you can see. And when it's closed, to lock it in place you drop it through and clip it. And then to open it you just remove it, and it is tethered, you can see if you let it go you won't lose it. Go ahead and put it back in there.Now this is a nice sturdy steel construction, uses rust resistant black powder coat finish. It is made in the USA. Few specs again, the application, it fits standard pin boxes from 12 inches to 14 inches wide. Now locking plates, which we do sell separately, are required for use with the following cushion pin boxes: The Glide Ride, the Mor Ryde, the Trailair Tri Glide, and the 5th Airborne. Gross towing weight capacity on this is 13,000 pounds, vertical load limit or pin weight capacity is 3,250 pounds. Now it does come with this nice operator's manual that'll describe how everything goes together and how it operates.And again, the last thing I do want to show you, here's an example of what the king pin would look like on your 5th wheel. So when you go to hookup, what you'll do again is remove the safety pin there, and then you'll take your handle and pull it all the way out. Once you get it all the way out, it locks into the open position. So you can see it's going to allow the king pin to slide in there and push up against the jaw. So you can see when it gets in far enough, just like that, the wrap around jaw comes around. And that bar we talked about will slide all the way across and lock into place, give you that extra security. Now you're all ready to go. All you have to do is take your safety pin, drop it through the hole, flip it and it's locked the handle, you're all ready to go. To disconnect it all you have to do is, again, pull out your handle and that'll allow you to remove the king pin from your jaws.But that should do it for the review on the Replacement Head and Base Assembly for the Demco Hijacker Autoslide 5th Wheel Trailer Hitches. Has a 13,000 pound gross towing weight capacity.
Ratings & Reviews
Working perfectly. Delivered via LTL, the carrier called in advance to schedule delivery to our home. I requested a lift gate at delivery. Driver picked up the (1) skid (approx. 500 lbs.) with pallet jack, moved it to the lift gate. I backed the pickup truck receiving the hitch to the back of the carrier truck and put down the tailgate. Driver lowered the lift gate to the same level as the tailgate of the pickup truck and moved the pallet from the lift gate to the back of the pickup using the pallet jack. All done in the street in front of our house. No problem!
I assembled the hitch in the rear of the truck by myself. Everything lined up perfectly with the "puck" system. Install took a few hours since I was on my own.
First hookup with 5th wheel was a little problematic. Hitch would not engage when the king pin hit the back of the hitch. Being new to a 5th wheel hitch, I thought I was doing something wrong. I got a neighbor who had years of experience with 5th wheels to take a look - we still were having problems getting the new hitch to engage. As it turned out, the king pin on the camper had a little corrosion, which we cleaned off and added a little grease. We added a touch of grease to the new hitch at the point of contact with the king pin. Hooked up on the next try and every other try (probably a dozen or more) since then.
Did some practicing on sharp turns and the automatic slide works perfectly! Full clearance between cab of truck and camper in all the turns we attempted. I did a lot of research and stressed a good deal over this purchase - so excited it worked out. Knowing what I know now, I'd do it again!
Worked out great. I used the hitch for my camper right after I installed it. However, I did break one of the bolts when installing it, which is OK. I just switched to grade 8 bolts which is better anyways. I love the fact that Demco hitch unlocks when you pull the lever regardless of weight on it. Compared to my previous Mopar hitch you had to get at the right weight pressure to unlock it.
Seems to be built very well, and installation was fairly easy considering the size and weight. Won’t know how it travels until I get the RV in the Spring….we shall see! In my particular case, I had to use spacer washers between one of the brackets and the hitch so it wouldn’t jam in the truck mounts but no big deal.
I’ve also figured out a way to “store” the hitch for the winter.
Awesome on-line company. Correct product was sent for our truck and sales staff was easy to work with! Highly recommend this company!
Good product, everything I needed for easy install.
everything i have bought i am very happy with and will buy again.
My f150 is hybrid and the only issue I had one of the bolts had to install facing up
Just installed. Fit perfect and e-trailer video instruction were very helpful.
Everyone that I spoke to on the phone were very helpful. I haven't hooked up my hitch yet but I like what I see so far.
Didn’t realize it was 13k thought it as the 18 k I wanted….
Your team was very helpful getting me the hitch that I needed, and it arrived a little sooner than expected. In fact my truck is still in the repair shop for the damage caused by the other hitch, so I have not installed the new one as of yet.
Thanks for all your help.
Kelly in sales was wonderful and very helpful to deal with
Out of the box I was slightly disappointed to see there was no paper or anything between the rails. The ends of the rails from shipping and the entire second rail was scuffed. Second was the spacing between the rail an bed. It gives a plastic box spacer and a shim. There was still enough gap that I has to also add another spacer washer otherwise the bed would be gouged/bent when tightening. This was easy to come up with but sad I had to source my own pieces when I ordered the "premier" and "custom" install kit. Third was the cheesy vinyl backing to prevent the galvanic corrosion. I was installing in an unheated garage so it wouldn't stick. Took the rails and shims inside to warm up but after going back outside to poke holes a center the shims the vinyl shattered and broke all apart in the cold. Lastly since I got the rails well before the hitch is going to show up (freight for the hitch) I tried installing the rails. One bolts to the bed holes which was easy. Second you need to drill holes but there is no template. They reference a picture of the template in the manual and taping the template 27" from the back. But it is not included. And since they don't provide measurements I could not get the second rail installed. Most videos show using the hitch as the measuring device but since the rails are universal why not give measurements. I am sure this rail kit will do its job as it is very heavy duty, I just give it three stars since I have a half installed scuffed rail kit.
Hitch works great, my truck has a 5’7” box, I can back up turning 90 degrees if I need to. It’s very important that your pretty straight when you unhook or you can’t hookup. You have to be more accurate when hookup. The first few times it seemed like it was going to be a hassle, you just have to pay a little more attention. Hitch is worth it
Wow, where to begin. I can't imagine towing a 5th wheel trailer in a shorter bed truck without an autoslide setup. After the initial install I noted on the 2nd(?) trip a clunking noise during acceleration after a stop - a couple emails back and forth with Demco support, as well as a quick phone call, and it was all sorted out (user error) with no further issues - Thank you Demco!
I tow a short & light Jayco 5th wheel with a 1/2 ton shortbed and having the ability to drive, turn, and park the camper without having to get out of the truck to manually engage or disengage a slide on the hitch has made for much more relaxing weekends away. The Hijacker autoslide gives PLENTY of space between the camper and cab and I've never had to worry, but I did my homework and ran the numbers well before I purchased my hitch so I wasn't surprised.
I would say the only downside for me would be the weight and bulkiness of the hitch. Not having the means to easily remove and store it between trips, the hitch is forced to live in the bed of the truck right now, but I did know about the weight going into the purchase.
All in all, for the peace of mind the Demco autoslide gives me, I'd spend the money all over again.
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Kevin
10/22/2021
its been great. love it