Best 2003 Dodge Dakota Fifth Wheel Hitches

This product gets a three based on shipping condition only. etrailer customer service and shipping time was excellent as usual. The shipment arrived 2 days after the order was placed, as promised. However, as others have noted, the product packing is poor. The boxes arrived with significant damage resulting in cosmetic damage to several parts. I haven't put the hitch to use yet but I am assuming it will work correctly. I will leave a followup after I use it.

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The hitch arrived nicely packed in two boxes. Very easy to assemble and install on my existing bed rails. I took the RV out for a first run with the hitch, and it performed as advertised. It was a no fuss transaction and the hitch arrived on-time!

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This review is for the Demco Autoslide 21k and accompanying OEM rail adaptor I purchased for a 2020 Ram 3500 Megacab DRW. I've owned it one year. Overall, the hitch performs as I expected. It is high quality, very sturdy and seems like it will last for a long time. I had it installed at the dealer when I purchased the truck. It automatically slides to protect the cab in my 6'4" bed without any incidents. I tow a standard fifth wheel RV. There are a few negatives, which are not necessarily shortcoming of the product but, instead, necessary evils to allow me to have a short bed. First, it is BIG and BULKY. I believe this is just a function of the mechanism required to allow the autosliding feature and I am not really sure there are any other lighter alternatives with this feature. The fact it requires two parts (OEM Puck Rail and hitch), make it even more bulky. It takes up almost the entire bed and prevents most auxillary tank / tool box combos from fitting. Even standard size storage bins will not fit in my bed. I would prefer if they had a custom OEM all-in-one hitch for my truck like they do for the Ford. It adds significant weight, which decreases carrying capacity, which can be at a premium in hauling a heavy fifth wheel. I've never even tried to take it out of the bed due to the weight and difficulty. I also am not very happy with the adjustable catch plate design. It requires significant manipulation loosening and tightening 8 nuts when hitching and unhitching. This requires a step ladder to reach the nuts. I also found out after the fact that it does not come with the right size catch plate attachments for my hitch and I had to purchase a separate part, which added unexpected expense and delayed my taking the RV on its first trip. Overall, I am satisfied with the hitch.

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I wish the place I bought my camper would have recommended this from the start. Makes owning a 5th wheel so much easier!

Demco auto slide hitch works very well with my crew cab short bed Ram. Fits under my tonneau cover nicely. Trouble free thus far. Had to purchase a Demco plate for the camper to make the Rhino box hitch work. etrailer personnel were great in helping ensure I had the right products and kept me well informed of shipping dates.

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My wife and I are full-time RVers, and have used this slider hitch from the get-go while traveling around seeing the country over the past year. We are happy with our purchase, which has proven to be both easy to hook up, adjust, and functions well, as advertised. The only matter I think you may want to address are the thick plastic removable maintenance access covers which tend to bow, and the areas around the attachment holes have melted, in the hot weather. Perhaps instead using a light metal for the covers would be better solution. We are very happy overall with this hitch, and plan to keep it . Thank you.

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From the start,the folks at etrailer were very courteous and helpful. I called many times during the decision making process and everyone was always right there to help. When I finally decided to purchase the B&W 18K Patriot w/slider Bailey was there to help with the order. She explained the free freight shipping and it was a done deal. It arrived 1 day earlier than stated, as soon as I opened the cartons it was in fact the good ol' American made quality I was accustomed to growing up. I proceeded to install on the B&W rails I purchased and installed locally on my 2022 F250 Lariat/ Tremor.I had a small hick- up with the install and etrailer gave me B&W's # as they like to handle issues themselves. Stephanie at B&W was just as courteous. Overall a very pleasant experience. The Patriot was basically plug and play. I then connected my 2021 Grand Design 303RLS Reflection and rolled down yhe road. What a smooth and quiet ride, loved it! I would definitely recommend etrailer and their products. Thank you all that helped.

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So far so good. Hitch appears to be good quality. It was easy to install after installing the mounting kit. I haven't used it yet so I can't comment on how it handles when pulling a camper.

Love the hitch. Hooks up easily and solid. Gives plenty of clearance. Only downside is it’s very noisy and you really feel the trailer. But for the price and weight it’s still 5 stars. Going to go up to a highway payload truck and will be getting the B&W companion for that. Not a reflection of the performance of this hitch though

Nice ride with this hitch . I was kind of on the fence about the pivoting but I’m good with .

GREAT GREAT GREAT EXPERIENCE AND EVERYTHING THAT GOES WITH THIS WEB SITE.....PRODUCT TO PRICING TO SERVICE.....

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Excellent quality products from Reese along with great service and pricing from e-trailer. I did run into some availability issues from the manufacturer with my initial order but Kelsey informed me quickly so we could modify my order. My order was shipped very promptly as promised. Thank you Kelsey for the amazing customer service!

After ordering rails for a fifth wheel that I had in an older truck, I was told the rails I ordered would work with my fifth wheel, however after installing the front rail, the fifth wheel would not work with the rails ordered. I ended up ordering a new fifth wheel plate. That was easier than removing the frame brackets I had already installed. It appears that there was a mis communication between the person I talked to with etrailer. Instead of a 1/2 day install it took a day and a half plus wait time for the fifth wheel to get to my address. However once installed it appears to be good.

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The hitch worked great. Reason for the 2 stars is the package got delayed twice in transit and I had to reschedule the pickup of my fifth wheel. When I also received the package the main crossmember bar was bent at the mounting point. Luckily I was able to bend it back but UPS needs to get there act together.

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This B&W 25k 5th wheel hitch is amazing and tuff. So glad I purchased this one from you all. Thanks my Ram 3500 love it. Lol

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The shipper’s had issues with the box it wouldn’t fit on their conveyor belts the outside of the box was dinged up pretty good and the other two boxes were together but undamaged the frame took a few dings where it rattled around in the trailer to me.

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Etrailer sent me a one year follow-up email. Since purchasing this I've used it to tow our 11k lb camper about 5k miles. The hitch and slider have worked exactly as they should and I have no complaints.

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Well, I haven't towed with it yet but we'll see how that goes. I purchased this hitch because I needed to drop the height as much as 6 inches. My previous hitch was dropped to the lowest setting and still 17 inches high! This E16 goes down to 14 inches... Assembly was straight forward and all pieces were present ( even 4 big washers which were not illustrated anywhere in the instructions as to where they went) The hitch seems well built but the welder needs to be more thorough in cleaning his Slag (got my finger good when I picked up the top plate) Stickers were falling off everywhere (my heat gun fixed those) But a couple notable design flaws... The top cradle for the 5th wheel plate is a triangular shaped arch and the top plate has an axle which is perfectly round. So when the 5th wheel assembly is down in the cradle, there are only two little points of contact instead of the cradle fitting uniformly around the axle rods...we'll see what kind of wear this causes. Next, the green ring on the indicator rod looked like a 3 year old toddler wiped lipstick on it. (Green paint is supposed to be in the little groove cut in the rod but instead, is smeared all over the end of the rod) Lastly... The side plates have a two rows of holes for height adjustment...I have installed the bolts to position the overall height at the lowest possible setting. However, there are two more holes in the tie plate but the casting prevents the sideplates from dropping down even lower. Definitely confused as to what the extra holes are for and disappointed that I can't drop this even lower... Definitely seems heavy duty, but again, I haven't towed yet, so hopefully the play in the base rails doesn't translate into obnoxious clanking and rattling.... If so, I will definitely be doing another review

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Product is very well made. Glad I went with B and W Patriot Hitch. Once the bed rails were installed the rest was a breeze. Now it's time to get a 5th wheel and hit the open road. etrailer, my go-to website.

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I bought this hitch to replace a slider hitch from another manufacturer. I wanted something I could get out of the bed without help, and with the 2" offset, I can get plenty of angle in a tight turn, thus eliminating the need for a slider. So far this hitch is fantastic. Hook up is so easy. Handle moves with zero effort. Same for unhooking. As soon as it was installed, I did a test run, and it was rock solid. I tried to make it chuck when starting and stopping. It wouldn't do it. Zero slop. On that note, the tolerances are tight on this thing from the bolt holes to the legs that insert it into the rails. My rails we're not perfectly lined up and required a little dremel and foot stomping to get it in the rails. In summary, if your looking for solid, conventional, non-slider FW hitch, this one is a great choice.

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Got it installed but haven't used it yet, but looks great and very strong. Will be pulling my new camper back from Louisiana to South Dakota I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks Randy. J

I recently purchased a Reese M5 20K hitch for my new Silverado 3500HD, Crew Cab, 8’ bed. As usual, Etrailer pricing was very good and with free shipping to boot. The hitch arrived via UPS in just a few days after placing the order. Following the detailed instructions provided by Reese, the install into the factory “puck” system, was fairly straight forward. However, a word of caution concerning the install. There are 4 15/16” bolts that need to be torqued to 220-foot pounds and are somewhat difficult to get to. Fortunately, I was able to borrow a torque wrench that would accommodate the recommended foot pounds of torque. Also, you may have an issue if you need to place the hitch at its highest position. The release handle might protrude above the bed rails of your truck in this position. This will be a problem if you have a bed cover. Reese is/was well aware of this issue and sells an after-market handle that will correct this issue. Etrailer lists this handle on their Web page.

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We have the Anderson Hitch installed on our 2017 Ford SuperDuty and pull a Reflection 337RLS. We have traveled over 4,000 miles and have been extremely satisfied. The hitch allows plenty of clearance between 5th wheel, bed, and the truck cab. Hook-up and disconnect has always been easy, even with RV lots that were uneven dirt lots. I use Curt thin rubber sound dampeners (item 16900) and this provides a quiet, tight fit between the rails and hitch. Of course the light weight makes it easy to remove when not towing and less weight when you are towing. A great product for the right truck, trailer combination.

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After receiving the kit i saw another one on the shelf at a local store. I noticed the one on the shelf had a steel ball cup mounted to it. Mine did not have that part. I called andersen and asked if the ball cup was available for purchase seperately. They told me no need to purchase bevause they will ship me one for free! Later on, i towed my trailer to a camp site and upon arrival i could not get the release pin to open to drop the trailer while we stayed in it. I called andersen and described the problem i had, they shipped a whole new block and cable assembly for free!! I am ver pleased with the product and also impressed with the level of customer service!

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