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This hitch is rated for a 21,000 lbs gross towing weight and 5,250 lbs vertical load limit, giving it the backbone needed for heavy fifth-wheel campers. The sturdy steel construction and rust-resistant black powder coat finish provide long-term durability for serious towing. It’s a solid, no-flex connection that stays stable mile after mile.
The automatic slider moves up to 14" fore and aft whenever you make a turn, giving you the clearance needed for tight corners without leaving the cab. The built-in rack-and-pinion gear design delivers smooth, controlled movement every time you steer past 10-15 degrees. It’s the kind of smart mechanical motion that makes backing into campsites or navigating small parking areas simple.
The wraparound, single-piece jaw completely encloses the king pin with full 360-degree contact for a tight, secure fit. A solid 3/4" thick steel locking bar reinforces the connection and automatically locks when coupled. Together they cut down on chucking and rattling, making towing quieter and more controlled on rough roads or long hauls.
The double-pivot head moves front to back and side to side to ease hookup and absorb bumps while towing. Three polyurethane dampeners cushion those movements to reduce noise and vibration. You get a steadier, quieter tow that feels more relaxed on the road.
The included underbed installation kit keeps the bed rail-free when the hitch is removed. The pre-assembled base drops into four receivers and locks with simple handle turns secured by safety pins. When it’s time to haul something else, just unlock the feet and lift it out for full truck bed use.
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.
Today we're going to take a look at the replacement side plates for the Demco Hijacker Autoslide fifth wheel trailer hitches, and this is for the underbed mount. Now this will replace the side plates that came standard with your Demco Hijacker Autoslide underbed fifth wheel trailer hitch. They are designed to bolt onto your hitch base so that you can attach your hitch to the custom underbed rails. This is designed to fit the 13,000 pound Hijacker, Part Number DM8550041. It also fits the 18,000 pound Hijacker, DM8550022, and the 21,000 pound Hijacker, DM8550037 models. This is a simple bolt-on installation to your hitch base. There are multiple rows of bolt holes on these side plates and on your hitch base, so depending how you line them out, it will let you adjust the hitch height.
The hitch height settings will go from either 15-1/2 inches to 16-3/4 and 18-1/4, so you have your choice of those three settings to get your trailer and tow vehicle as level as possible. These do have a rust-resistant black powder coat finish. They are an all-steel construction. It does include the instructions. It will include the mounting hardware, and it also includes two 1/4-inch spacers and two 3/8-inch spacers, and the spacers are used for adjusting your hitch mount with the bed pockets of your truck, and this part is made in the U.S.A. The way that these would open up is you just pull the clip, pull the pin out, and you can see each one of these will rotate out, and when you rotate those out, it will let you drop it into your underbed mount, and then once there, you just turn this back in to lock it, and then put your clip right through there just like that. This part is made in the U.S.A. That should do it for the review of the replacement side plates for Demco Hijacker Autoslide fifth wheel trailer hitches with the underbed mount..
Ratings & Reviews
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.
Its a great hitch for short box trucks. Had a manual slider before that worked well. Except when we checked in I would always extend, leaving the campground first stop sign I would retract, not a lot of work.but you had to do it always. with this it is no worries. Just drive and it adjust as it needs. It is a verry solid hitch. PLus it is height adjustable too if you need it.
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.
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.
Great functional hitch. Poor powdercoating though (mostly flaking off) with quite a bit of rust after only a year.
great hitch for my customers new truck to pull his new Durango 5th wheel!
Fast Delivery as well
Always RV
Mesa Az
Hitch sucks pain in the assembly to connect and disconnect.
Hitch looks great and functions great as well. Installation could’ve been smoother due to the installation instruction measurements being slightly off. Look at finding hole caps that are 3” instead of two and drilling the larger hole.
Hitch works great. Had some issues using it when I first got it with putting the pin to lock down the handle but its worked much better lately. The hitch is heavy so I leave it in the back of the truck. Wish I could remove it so it doesn't get weathered.
After a year, I still like my Demco autoslide. It works great. I have pulled my trailer quite a few times and have had no issues at all. I know quite a few people that pull 5th wheels and one actually went out and purchased a autoslide after watching mine work.
Instructions left alittle to interpretation when it came to hitch height in the bed of the truck. For a f350 super duty it is the medium set up. Save you some time and effort. Other then that it looks great and will be testing it out this weekend.
This hitch has been used daily since i purchased it. I deliver fifth wheel travel trailers all over the country. This hitch has worked flawlessly from day one. This hitch is one of the only products that I've ever bought that is exactly what it was described to be. Im not one to do reviews, so the fact that im doing this one , in itself, says a lot about the quality of your product. The design and looks are much better than any other hitch ive seen. It just looks better in the truck bed than others do.
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