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The automatic slider takes the stress out of tight turns. As you steer, the head glides smoothly along built-in roller-and-guide tracks to give you 22-1/2" of extra clearance between cab and trailer—no need to stop and pull a manual lever. It lets the hitch head move toward the tailgate during sharp turns and then back toward the cab when straightening out, all in a controlled, jerk-free motion that keeps your setup steady while maneuvering in campsites or parking lots.
A single-piece wraparound jaw completely surrounds the king pin for full 360-degree contact. This design holds tight with less rattle than traditional slide-bar jaws. A solid 3/4" steel locking bar sits in front of the jaw as an added barrier against accidental disconnects, automatically engaging when the jaw closes. The result is a quiet, secure hookup that feels solid from the first mile out.
The double-pivot hitch head helps cushion road shock and cut down on chucking. It pivots both front to back and side to side so the trailer tracks naturally over bumps and uneven pavement. Three polyurethane dampeners—two inside the head and one underneath—absorb noise and harsh movement so towing feels stable and comfortable even on long hauls.
Installation is straightforward thanks to the pre-assembled main unit and included base rails with custom brackets. The side plates bolt on easily and give you three height choices—15-1/4", 16-1/2", and 18"—so you can dial in your ideal trailer level and bed rail clearance. Once set, safety pins secure the hitch to the rails for a reliable anchor every trip.
Heavy steel construction and a rust-resistant black powder coat finish make this hitch ready for demanding fifth-wheel duty. It’s rated at 13,000 lbs gross towing weight with a 3,250 lbs vertical load limit, giving you dependable strength for large campers or toy haulers while maintaining smooth operation turn after turn.
This fifth-wheel trailer hitch is not compatible with Sidewinder or Revolution king pins. Do not use any device that changes the pivot point of your trailer's king pin with this hitch.
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
Item works exactly as described. I have a shortbed (6.5') Ford F350. Probably towed our 5th wheeler 5000+ miles with no problem. Then last year it happened! We were making a sharp turn in an uneven lot and POW, the 5vr hit the rear window and it exploded. After that I became gun shy about turning with the 5vr attached so I started looking at sliding hitches. A slider that you had to get out and unlatch to make work, didn't make sense to me. At what point do you get out? So, an auto slider hitch was purchased. Now when I get to a certain degree turn the auto-slide hitch moves back in its carriage and then auto-slides to the normal location once straightened out. Not gun shy anymore.
Pro:
Well packaged
Well made
Easy install
It WORKS.
Cons:
Price
Very heavy
Some clunking after it straightens out from a turn
Very happy with my Demco Autoslide hitch after one year. We pull a Montana 3120 35 ft 5th wheel with a 2019 Ford F-350 short bed. Took a month long 6,000 mile trip from Colorado to New England/Canada this Summer. Lots of hilly/curvy roads and some remote campgrounds with tight corners and some near 80 degree back ins. Never came close to trailer contacting the truck. I’ve had no jerking or other issues when turning or stoping/starting. Works great. The only drawback is there isn’t much room for error when you back up to hook up the trailer, so it takes a little practice to get used to correctly lining up your Demco Hitch to the trailer. The first couple of trips, it took me 3 or 4 attempts to properly line it up. No longer an issue for me after a few trips and you get used to the angles. It weighs about 300 pounds. I got a small chain hoist which I installed in my garage rafters and easily lift the hitch in and out of my truck and just let it hang front he rafters until I need to use it.
This 21K unit is very well built. It does have some weight to it so some help installing would be much easier.my installation was completed solo and took approx 1 hour in a GMC 3500 Denali.
Heavy as hell. Shims should be in smaller increments. Took a sledge hammer to get pins to finally seat in pucks and to close the locking handles. Took apart and back together 5 times to get it right. Not enough play in the system in my opinion but I have zero experience with OEM 5th wheel prep stuff so who knows. Ultimately in the end it's installed and feels tight. Backing 90 degrees i didn't see and slide but maybe it knows what it needs to do better than I do.
The product is very well built. The instructions could use some clarity on exactly which bolts go where.
Hitch is amazing. I was worried about towing a 5th wheel with a short bed. Hitch works as advertised. Easy install. Thanks for the help and fast shipping.
Install pretty straight forward. Hitch works as it should. 90 degrees with my 5 1/2 foot bed. The ums rails..well just say there ain't no way the bolts just drop in from above like in install video. My truck is same year as in the video. Rails with spacers (which needed pusuasion to "slide" in) are flush with the bed. Also the hole plugs work great with no rails...need to trim tip off for them to seat with rails installed. See pics
The product showed up in perfect condition. Followed the instructions and install was pretty smooth. I had access to a forklift so I was able to do the install by myself. Just be aware that it’s a freight shipped item so the estimated arrival time is wrong. It will take longer than what the website tells you at checkout. But the customer service reps were helpful in explaining the process when I inquired as to where my package was.
I like to hitch but unfortunately doesn’t work for my trailer as it won’t travel level meaning it was to high in the bed of the truck causing to much weight to be on the rear axle of the trailer which will cause other issues like wearing tires, wheel bearings, axles and could cause rear tires to blow out while traveling. With discussion with Will at ETrailer we worked out to use a stationary hitch until one can be available for our situation. Will was excellent to work out our options.
Installing was relatively easy. Made my silly Rhino hitch work with auto slide.
This hitch is very well made. Its very heavy and will require some kind of lift to get into the back of the truck. I used a foldable engine hoist. The puck system works well as long as the pucks the truck manufacturer installs are cast correctly. One of the RAM pucks had some slag or casting imperfections that had to be removed for the hitch to go into the puck. Once that was cleaned up the hitch installed very easily. Another thing is this hitch has no rattles when I am not pulling a trailer.Very impressive to other 5th wheel hitches I have used. The hitch works as intended as I do not have any issues with clearance in a full 90 degree turn. When turning at a 90 on a grade or large angle which sometimes causes clearance issues this hitch I have not had any issues.
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.
everything i have bought i am very happy with and will buy again.
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.
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