Going to rent 5th wheels first...is Demco best for me?

[roegs]

I have a 3500 Crew Cab Short Box SRW on order and our plans are to purchase a mid-sized (less than 15k gross weight) 5th wheel. We did travel trailers for many years, but this 5th wheel thing is new for me. As the title mentioned, we're thinking about renting 5th wheels first before diving in with a purchase. Lots of good info on this site about hitches, and I'm thinking an auto slider is best for me (at least for now). That seems to narrow things down to Pullrite and Demco. Since I won't know what kind of pin box a given rental 5th wheel will have, the whole capture plate requirement with Pullrite could be a problem. I'm thinking that the Demco 18k Autoslide is probably the best option. I'm not too keen about having something that heavy, but the ability to change vertical height and not needing a capture place seems like a real plus. I'd probably look for a used Demco Autoslide and then sell it again if / when we purchase our own 5th wheel (and I do something like a Reese sidewinder etc). Am I missing anything?

 

[Bozo]

I use a demco 18k auto slide and it works fantastic. I wouldn’t scrimp on the hitch, demco or pullrite, either will serve you well.

 

[H3LZSN1P3R]

Sounds like your way overthinking it most 5th wheels are pretty standard for pin boxes so buy what ever hitch you like the most, i have never adjusted my hitch and i pull tons of trailers i have only once needed to adjust a pin box because someone had it setup for a flat deck

 

[roegs]

Sounds like your way overthinking it most 5th wheels are pretty standard for pin boxes so buy what ever hitch you like the most, i have never adjusted my hitch and i pull tons of trailers i have only once needed to adjust a pin box because someone had it setup for a flat deck

Are you doing this with a long bed vs. short bed?

 

[RV_Goose]

Had I known about the Demco HiJacker before I bought th PullRite, I would have bought it. The PullRite needs capture plates based on the pin box used on the trailer. There are many. The DemCo locks in on the sides, no capture plate is needed except for Rota-Flex pinbox.

 

[H3LZSN1P3R]

Are you doing this with a long bed vs. short bed?

I now have a long bed but i used to have a short bed

 

[RV_Goose]

Sounds like your way overthinking it most 5th wheels are pretty standard for pin boxes so buy what ever hitch you like the most, i have never adjusted my hitch and i pull tons of trailers i have only once needed to adjust a pin box because someone had it setup for a flat deck

I was very happy with my auto slider in my short bed 2500. It came in handy often being able to turn 90 degrees. Could not have made those turns otherwise.

 

[H3LZSN1P3R]

I was very happy with my auto slider in my short bed 2500. It came in handy often being able to turn 90 degrees. Could not have made those turns otherwise.

Any slide hitch will suffice and obviously you need a slider in a short bed unless you have some of the newer pin boxes that does the turning instead of the hitch being the pivot point...