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This hitch is rated for 21,000 lbs gross towing weight and a 4,000 lbs vertical load limit. It’s built from sturdy steel with a rust-resistant black powder coat finish that stands up to time on the road. Whether you’re pulling a big camper or toy hauler, it gives you a strong, steady connection that feels solid every mile.
The manual slider gives you up to 14" of fore/aft travel so your trailer clears the cab during sharp, slow-speed turns. That extra space makes it easier to maneuver into campsites or driveways without worrying about contact between the trailer and truck. The slider moves smoothly and locks securely in place, so you can focus on your turn instead of the hitch.
The wraparound single-piece jaw gives you 360-degree king pin contact for less rattle and more security than slide-bar jaws. A 3/4" thick solid steel locking bar reinforces the connection once the jaw closes and locks automatically. It’s a tight, confident fit that helps your trailer feel like part of the truck instead of something being dragged behind it.
The double-pivot head moves front to back and side to side to make hookup easier and reduce chucking on uneven roads. Polyurethane bumpers help absorb road shock and quiet vibration for a smoother tow. It’s one of those details you notice after a few miles—less clanking, less movement, more comfort behind the wheel.
Installation is straightforward—this hitch drops right into the four receiver pucks built into the factory underbed rail system. No complicated alignment or extra mounting hardware required. Three height settings—19-5/8", 20-7/8", and 22-1/8"—let you fine-tune your setup for proper trailer level and bed clearance.
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Hi there, I'm Michael with etrailer.com. Today, we're gonna take a quick look at this Demco Recon Manual Slide fifth wheel trailer hitch. This is a brick wheel hitch that will mount in your short bed, GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado 2500 and 3500. So you can tow your fifth wheel trailer. This does have the manual slide on it, so it is going to make sure that your short bed truck can pull your fifth wheel trailer and still make those tight turns when you need to, by moving your hitch back up to 14 inches. So basically when you find yourself in a situation where you need to make one of those slow, tight turns, you'll get out, you'll move the slide into the slide position here and that will allow you to very easily slide that back up to 14 inches so that you have that greater clearance.
You're not gonna have to worry about making contact with your cab and your trailer. And then when you get straightened back out you can slide that back into the lock position there where it will sit above your axle so it'll distribute the weight appropriately for your highway speeds and make sure that everything's gonna be safe again for you. Now, this is going to fit with your standard 12 to 14 inch wide pin boxes. Keep in mind this is not gonna be compatible with your rotating pin box. So if you've installed a rotating pin box on your trailer so that you can kind of accommodate your shorter bed this isn't gonna work with that to give you more.
It would create two pivot points which could cause safety issues and that sort of thing. So you wanna make sure you've got a static pin box in order to operate this properly. This is made here in the USA of a sturdy steel construction. You can see it's got nice black powder coat finish on it. It's gonna help resist rust and corrosion.
That steel construction is gonna give us the gross towing weight capacity of 21,000 pounds. It also has the vertical load limit of 5,250 pounds. So keep that in mind. make sure that that's gonna work for your setup. This is designed specifically for your 2020 and newer GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado 2500 and 3500 with the OEM prep package.
And the reason for that is our legs here are side rails. These are designed to fit into your factory puck system. So I've got these loosely installed right now so that's why they're kind of wiggling around. Once you get them firmly installed, you'll be able to pull up that pin and just pulling that lever, I don't know if you'll be able to see the way that's turning that foot so you can have it in the open position. Just set it down into your factory puck system and then push it in. That's gonna put it in the lock position. You'll pass your pin through and you'll have a nice solid connection to your factory prep system. So very simple to get installed. It's dropping right into those four pucks, and this is a little bit lighter weight than some other options. So it is going to be relatively quick and easy to get installed and to take out if you're needing to have a full bed access again. So a little bit lighter than some of your other options. I will say when you're comparing this to say like an auto slide, it is gonna be a little bit more work having to get out, unlatch and allow it to move into that slider position rather than your auto slides which will do that automatically for you. But auto slides are significantly heavier so it'll be harder to get in and out. They're also gonna be significantly more expensive. So if it just doesn't fit into your price range, this is still gonna give you that slide adjustability so that you can have that room that you need to make sure you can make those tight turns without denting your cab or making contact with your trailer. If we move into the specifics of our hitch, we do have the wrap around single piece jaw that's gonna provide a nice secure connection for you. Having that 360 degree jaw to kingpin contact is going to ensure less rattling and more security than your slide bar jaws. I'm gonna use a screwdriver here to kind of simulate your kingpin. So as you're backing your truck up to your trailer that king pin's gonna find its way back to this back plate here which is going to trigger it to close, snap shut. And then with it shut you can see we do have that three quarter inch thick solid steel locking bar that's gonna reinforce that connection with your coupled trailer. And that's going to automatically lock into place when the jaw closes. So you're gonna have a nice sturdy connection. We can operate that jaw with our spring loaded handle here that's got the comfort grip and that will allow for simple coupling. You can see we have the tethered safety pin that's going to allow you to secure the handle in the open or the closed position and it's tethered to make sure that you don't lose track of that. Our hitch head is a double pivot head so it's going to ease hookup and help to limit chucking while you're traveling. This will pivot front and the back as well as side to side. If I am able to turn this to the side a little bit, you can see that inside here we do have the cushioning polyurethane dampeners that help to reduce noise and absorb road shock to give you a nice smooth ride. Again, working our way down, we do have the adjustable height setting here. So we've got a big pin that we can pull out. There's three different adjustment holes here. So at our highest point it is going to give us a hitch height of 22 and one eighth of an inch. Our middle setting will be a height of 20 and seven eighths of an inch, and then at our lowest setting it'll be 19 and five eighths of an inch. So make sure that that's going to work for your setup, give you adequate clearance over your bedside rails. So overall, a really nice option here. If you don't want to pay for the convenience of an auto slide this is still going to allow you to have that clearance for a more reasonable price and it is gonna be fairly simple to take in and out. Of course, it does weigh over a hundred pounds so you'll definitely want to have a second set of hands helping you with that. It's not something you can do on your own but it is gonna be a little bit more, a little easier than some other systems. So that completes our look for today. Again, I'm Michael with etrailer.com. Thanks for watching.
Customer Satisfaction Score:
98% were satisfied with this product
2% of customers were not satisfied
Ratings & Reviews
This is a really nice hitch for the money. Extremely easy to installl for one person. I can’t wait to pull my camper with it. The only problem I had was how badly damaged the package was when delivered. Fortunately the hitch was not damaged. The picture shows how it was when I got it.
The hitch took about 45 minutes to put together. Including putting on the side plates. I wanted the extra two inches of travel that the Recon gives you over the competitors. I would have gone with the auto slide but there was not a adapter plate to fit my old nine inch wide pin box.
Ordered hitch late Wednesday evening and received early afternoon on Friday, that is super fast delivery. Two cartons received with no damage and all parts were there as expected. It looks exactly as advertised online and it was at a great price. AND FREE SHIPPING.
Also made in the USA.
I am replacing my Demco Hi Jacker Auto Slider that weighs approximately 300 lbs with the Demco Recon that according to the shipping labels weighs 91 lbs. It will be installed on a Ford F150 with 5 1/2 ft bed and fiver with a Lippert Turning Point Pin box.
Rugged product, easy to install, quick latch system. easy to remove. Purchased the Reese adapter with this hitch, and installation was easy. Some minor adjustments with the cam over lugs, and setting the hitch posts into the adapter. Overall very easy set up. Looks good, and can be taken apart in pieces, for ease of removal and installation, after set up. Ordering was simple and all parts came in about a week.
Parts arrived for the DM 8550043, received only the hitch base plate and adjustable shaft for the hitch head. Have been told that the hitch head is shipped separately. Now have a problem with the hitch plate fitting the bed rails. The holes for the pin that secures the hitch plate to the rails are to close to the bottom of the hitch plate photos are given of the problem a pencil was used for reference. There is NO WAY the pin will go through the rail and hitch plate. Waiting on a solution from etrailer. The hole that you can barely see the pencil is tailgate rails pin fits fine.
This hitch with the Airbourne Sidewinder worked great with the 2018 Ram 2500 Mega cab short bed with Ram boxes. Can maneuver a 90 degree turn without issue. Still have to get trailer lifted higher to get the trailer nose lowered, but for the complicated research we had on the right combo, this is tested and verified
Already pulled the rv with it. I like the design. Literally ripped open the box and put it together in a matter of minutes. The three pieces come apart fast lightening it up to remove it from the bed
I like it’s design and how it sits in the bed. It seems to want to rotate some while pulling. I see some reviews that other people are having this problem also. Some have put a bolt down through the base into the truck bed. I haven’t wanted to do that as of yet. Otherwise I like the hitch.
This was a perfect fit into my 2500 Ram. It was delivered in perfect condition. I had a hard time finding the correct torque for some of the Bolts, for example the Bolts for attaching the Ram puk system to the hitch frame. It all worked out well. It took me one hour to put it together and install it in my Ram.
I had a Demco Recon 5th Wheel Hitch in the past I liked how easy it was to operate and the get in and out of the truck bed. I also like how compacted it is compared to most of the other brands. Go with what you know works for you.
The truck that got the install is a 2002 Ford F350 Super Duty 7.3 L Diesel dually. The Demco Recon 5th wheel hitch (DM8550043) looks like a well made, heavy duty hitch. All the welds are precise and well done. I like the single wrap around jaw with the real thick bar that backs that up. The handle that pulls out to unlock the jaw moves with ease and locks in the out position when the jaw opens. When the king pin comes in contact with the back of jaw, the jaw wraps around the king pin, the handle closes, you put in the safety pin and your ready to go RVing. I chose the Husky Custom Rails and installation kit (HT31405-686) for my install. The reason I chose these rails over the ones that etrailer had matched up for the hitch is, I had previously installed a set of Airlift Airbags and I didn't want the rail install to interfere with the airbags. It was a good choice, there was no interference at all. If I had not had the bags, I would have chose the rails and install kit that require no drilling. Drilling the holes went very fast and easy, it was torking the rear bolts down that was very difficult. There was not enough room to get a wrench of any kind around the nut. I wound up using a set of vise grips on the nut while a friend of mine torked the bolt slowly from above.
All and all I'm happy with the product and I'll give another review in a year.
I did have a problem the first time using the hitch with it unexpectedly sliding rearward and bending the locking pins. Kudos to Michael with Demco products for sending a replacement part and no issues since.
Purchased for my 2021 Ford F-250. Arrived 3 days ahead of schedule with excellent communication. Was professionally delivered in 1 shipment on 1 pallet in perfect condition.
Great instructions. Is easy to install for the mechanically minded. Will take a novice longer but they will have no issues if they follow the instructions. All I needed was a 3/4" wrench/socket, a 1 1/8" wrench, and a torque wrench. Puck handles were on upside down from factory but didn't matter you will need to take them off in step 1 to add or remove washers for the perfect fit on your OEM puck setup. Excited to hook up and start using it!
Very satisfied with this product! A bolt on Teflon plate would be awesome instead of the round disks that wear out and become hard to keep in place during the hitching process.
This hitch met all my expectations and beyond. I have traveled over 10 thousand miles so far and it has worked very smoothly. Thanks JoAnn
Used one time. I think it stands a little taller than others I adjusted the pin box. The first pull went well. I gave 4 stars because I only used it once. To soon to give a 5 star rating.
Hitch works awesome easy to install showed up a week before expected. I give it a 10 out of 10 so far. I have used it three times so far.
Excellent product. Easy to assemble and install. Easir to hitch to my trailer than my previous product. Trailer was awesome to work with when I purchased the wrong item to begin with. They took the item back sent me a return slip and back it went. They did ask that I pay shipping back, which was a pretty good value considering the weight of the product. Would purchase again.
Shipping was fast and installation was easy.
Customer service was excellent
The Demco Recon 5th Wheel Hitch w/ Slider – Single Jaw – Chevrolet/GMC Prep Package – 21K (#DM97YV) is a fantastic addition for my Chevy! It fits perfectly into the Chevy puck system, latches securely, and unhooks with ease. I love how quietly it pulls—no annoying rattles or noise. It’s definitely heavy, so plan for a two-person lift, but the quality and performance make it well worth it. Highly recommend for anyone needing a reliable 5th wheel hitch!
Fit was spot on, built in USA a big plus, handles smoothly.
Putting the OEM package together for the puck system was very easy. All components look and move as they should. So far so good! Thanks etrailer.com
Gwendolyn Y.
5/21/2025
5th wheel looks great in your truck, Paul! What kind of trailer are you hauling?
I'm not real impressed with this hitch i had the trailer lifted bought taller tires and wheels and have all adjustments at lowest settings and still not level
Heather A.
5/26/2026
Thanks for the feedback, we’d like to take a closer look with you to make sure everything is set up correctly. On a 2026 Silverado, the truck height can vary depending on configuration, so a few details will really help us narrow this down. When you have a moment, could you let us know what trailer make and model you’re towing, and whether it’s sitting nose-high or nose-low when connected? Also, do you know which hitch height position you’re currently using on the Demco Recon 5th Wheel Hitch w/ Slider (top, middle, or bottom setting), and whether you’re using the factory puck system on your Silverado? Once we have that information, we can help confirm whether this is an adjustment issue or if another setup change is needed to get everything sitting level.
Heather A.
5/27/2026
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Gwendolyn Y.
5/19/2025
I totally agree needing a second person to help get the hitch in the bed, it is a very heavy hitch for sure. Have you taken it out for a trip yet with your 5th wheel?