demco vs drawrite sliding hitch

[mussfly]

between demco and drawrite sliding hitches , which is the better one?
moving from a class c and i just bought a 5th wheeler which empty is 9700 lbs and max wt is 11200 and plan to pull with a chevy 1500 crew cab short bed and max towing package and also wonder if this setup is ok or light for what i have to pull . and everything needed is alot of recearch and there got to be pro's and cons of both.

as i only plan to pull a couple of times a year and most of it will be highway driving from se pa. to florida or the del beaches. but maybe a run to upstate pa or n.y. could happen.

[mussfly55]

thecaptken.
but can you manually turn the hitch to align it, if so how do you turn it?

[TheCaptKen]

Demco Hijacker will allow connection @ up to 15 degree angle.

[mussfly]

my ford is a 2015 and it did not have a puck sys. but i did install that type of sys when i bought the auto slider from demco. which is of the gear driven type of slider.

[MFL]

This is the Ford oem puck system. I don't know how you could rotate a sliding hitch. Maybe you could post a picture of your hitch. You don't say what year truck, but only the later models had the fifth wheel prep kit, about 2012 and newer.

Jerry

[mussfly]

mfl----what is oem puck system?
it would be to expensive to change hitches but i would like to know if i could manually rotate the hitch maybe 10 degrees with out hurting the setup.

[MFL]

I would not want a hitch that would not hookup at an angle. I think this is somewhat typical of the auto-sliders. Do you feel that you really need a slider, after towing the past few years. If you really need one, there are good manual sliders available, that will hitch/unhitch at an angle.

What Ford do you have? Does it have the OEM puck system?

Jerry

[mussfly]

after going thru this forum i decided to go with a gas f250 auto 4x4 and purchased a demco auto slider of 18k.
after a lot of hitching problems over the couple of yrs now that i had the setup, i finally decided to post about the problems with the demco. and to start off i had neck surgery with fusion and my head movement is limited which means i am totally dependent on mirrors to backup to hitch. and this makes it very hard to hit the narrow opening of the hitch point. so with that said at my last park we stayed at i was able to back in and setup pulling out straight with no problems, but when we went to leave there were rv's beside us and across the street and i did not have the option of backing in straight let alone pulling out after hooked up. so i had a friend with a regular hitch on a long bed hitch up and pill me out cause he was able to hitch at an angle and pull. where the demco i think you are not able to turn the hitch. or is there away i can turn the hitch to hookup so i could have pulled out on my own?
help!

[Sport45]

CCC = Cargo Carrying Capacity

Just thought I'd throw that in since the OP wasn't aware of what RAWR was.

The pin weights estimated above are 20% of trailer weight which is a good round number for 5th/gooseneck trailers.

[JIMNLIN]

between demco and drawrite sliding hitches , which is the better one?

Which one is better ? Thats like asking which is better a Ford or a chevy truck. AS you see the best one is the one some one owns.
I've towed with GN/5th wheel hitches since the late '60s. I prefer a manual slider simply because I can hook/unhook at any angle up to 90 degrees which is necessary where we sometimes camp/park.

and i just bought a 5th wheeler which empty is 9700 lbs and max wt is 11200 and plan to pull with a chevy 1500 crew cab short bed and max towing package and also wonder if this setup is ok or light for what i have to pull .

The only 1/2 ton chevy I'm aware of that can carry 2000 lbs of pin weight/the hitch and all the other "junk" we carry is a '00 to a '06 1500 HD with its 6000 RAWR = around 3000+ lb of payload.
The late model 1500 gm trucks are limited to a small 4000-4600 RAWR = 1800-2000 lb of payload.

RAWR = the truck makers "rear axle weight rating" which include the rear suspension/wheels and tires which carries the load. This can be found on all trucks certification sticker on the drivers side door post.

9700 lb dry weight = 1940 lbs pin weight.
11200 max weight (GVWR) = 2240 lbs pin weight.

Something doesn't compute as this trailer has just 1500 lbs of CCC using your numbers.
However this was common back in the 90's era. Many folks load 1500 lbs of stuff so the trailer may weigh the full 11200 lbs.

With no info on your truck were just guessin'.......

[2008Wildcat]

mussfly wrote:
what is meant by rawr? i think you are talking about hitch pin wt and i looked the model up and is 1220 lbs
so i looked up the pickup and the payload is 2220 lbs so if i am correct the hitch wt is 1220lbs and the reciever is 200 which would be about 1420 lbs which is with in the mfger's wt of 2220 lbs, so is there something i am missing?

Yes, you are missing the fact that the 1220 lbs is empty pin weight, and all your storage is in the front of a fifth wheel. I would bet you will be closer to 2000lbs when loaded.

Also, your payload of 2220lbs has to include everything you add into the truck, including occupants. Do you plan on carrying anything else in the bed of the truck besides the hitch? Firewood maybe?

[mussfly]

what is meant by rawr? i think you are talking about hitch pin wt and i looked the model up and is 1220 lbs
so i looked up the pickup and the payload is 2220 lbs so if i am correct the hitch wt is 1220lbs and the reciever is 200 which would be about 1420 lbs which is with in the mfger's wt of 2220 lbs, so is there something i am missing?

[Drifter1959]

I installed a Demco 21K Auto Slide in my RAM. I'll never go back to a manual slider. Being able make the tight turns in a fueling station without worry was worth enough for me. Not to mention the tight turns in some campgrounds.
After being around fivers since 1977, I can say that after all of the research I've performed, lead me to the Demco. And the guys at the Demco manufacturing facility are the best to speak with and answer any and all of your questions. A standard pin box does not need a capture plate for the Demco auto slide. Again a major advantage over the Pullrite.
Now for the tow vehicle you have.... it is too small, light duty, little....call it what you want, go to a 2500 with a 3.73 rear or a 4.10. It'll pull great and you may also have enough truck when you get your next (bigger) fiver.

[wilber1]

As far as a hitch goes, you say you won't be towing much so consider what you actually need. I rarely slide mine but there are occasions when I do, mostly for peace of mind but once and a while I actually need to. Pullrites are great but heavy and expensive so how much is the convenience of an auto sliding hitch worth to you? You will already be pushing or exceeding the GVWR of your truck (maybe axle and tire rating to) so do you really want to aggravate that by using a heavier hitch than necessary? Will you be removing the hitch often in order to use your truck for other reasons? Pullrites are heavy and I don't know how easy they are to disassemble. My Draw-Tite is easily broken down into two pieces which can be handled by one person.

As IdaD posted, perhaps the Anderson might be your best option.

[IdaD]

Check the tire rating too.