Demco Recon 5th wheel hitch | Likes and Dislikes

[@OutlawRob5150]

I know it’s been several years since you made this video, but friction mats would work great

[@jnich17]

I have the Demco Recon and have been using it for 2 years now. I love it. I considered the Anderson Ultimate, but my RotoFlex Pinbox will not work with the Anderson. I can see your dislikes. I have had the same problems and made adjustments to correct. One is where the top part has the 2 bent places. I straightened them out and welded a piece of flat bar across in side to stiffen it up. The movement at base is from twisting. I made 2 teflon pieces to fit in channels of bed and bolted to frame. These work great. Added note is that I just purchased a new 2021 Chevy 2500HD and the puck system and BW gooseball underbed hitch now mount behind axle on short beds. I asked Demco about turning hitch around with offset to front of bed to get back over axle and they said it was OK to do this. All I had to do was take out the 3/4" bolt and nut on top section and turn head around and reinstall bolt. Easy fix. Haven't pulled it yet but won't belong. Keep up the good videos.

[@TravelsAbound]

Great info! Thank you for sharing. I appreciate the kind words too!

[@Orion801airsoft]

Great video. Thanks for making it. I inherited a hitch like this, good to know the issues to look out for.

[@b.a.ward.]

Thankfully the new design has some changes to address a few things. One of which is there are now two set bolts instead of just the one securing the neck. Both are 85 ft lbs of torque. Another change is the coupler now allows for ball heights of 4 and 5 inches, rather than just the original 4 inch ball height.

[@robertsimcox8185]

I have the Demco Recon but mine is for the recessed gooseneck ball on a flatbed. I have no rotation of the base or loosening of the neck. I guess because I’m tightening the whole hitch down to the bed. So far so good with mine. I have no complaints at this point.

[@OmahaWayne]

Man I love this channel. I was just looking at the Recon as a choice for my 350. I had the demco autoslider in my last truck and just hated how loose and sloppy it was all the time. By far the noisiest most chucking hitch I have ever owned. But I thought the newer recon might be better, still looks like the same noisy slop. Thank you for your honesty

[@edday2009]

I'm using the Demco Recon after dealing with a Reese, an upgrade for sure. Don't over tighten fasteners! Also,you would be amazed at what cleaning and lubricating components will do.

[@TravelsAbound]

Hi Ed! As stated in the video, everything I did to try to make this hitch work for us was recommended by a Demco Rep directly. Including torquing the bolt past the written instructions. Above everything else, the hitch head bending under normal towing conditions was unacceptable for us. We now have a B&W Companion with over 20k miles and 21 states on it with zero issues. I am glad that the Demco is working well for you though! Safe travels!

[@michaelmartin9335]

Rase your camper up more when you hook up. If you hit the plate to low when hitching up it drives the plate in to the frame

[@jgriff19861947]

We have the system but our bed has a coating on it and it seems to stay in place all but one time and it slid over a lot but no problem after that

[@TravelsAbound]

Good to know that helps! Thank you for the info! I really wanted it to work for us but I recently traded it for another hitch to fit the factory puck system on our F-350. Thank you for watching!

[@blueeyephil]

Thanks for an honest user review.

[@TravelsAbound]

Thank you for watching!

[@jamesrobson1744]

if you got 1000 miles before having to retighten the bolt, you did good. The thing is always loose. My other complaint is that the jaws seem off and look like they should open further. Mine's on rails and the reason I bought it was way better than a Reese I had looked at and the dealer had them to install right away. I thought about waiting for an Anderson.

[@TravelsAbound]

Lots of issues with this hitch. Thank you for sharing your troubles with it too. Glad I'm not the only one. Safe travels!

[@Drewmo2000]

Thanks man, great video. I can 110% endorse what you say. I had one of these, and believe it or not, experienced and identified exactly the same three bad issues as you had. Yep, after even a 150mile trip, the base would rotate, by as much as 1/2", no matter how much I tightened it down. Andto your point #2, that center bolt that tightens down on the shaft gradually bores into the shaft just due to the pressure on it, and that's what makes that head shaft go loose every trip. Bucking was horrendous for me using this hitch, like being rear-ended, when going over freeway expansion joints. There was so much slop and movement in the hitch, the trailer (only a 11k trailer) felt like it was taking a run up and ramming us from behind. Your third point showing the contact points is, I believe, where the sudden shock we experienced comes from, it's where the hitch head slams into the top head as you point out. You can see they fit a little blue rubber shock absorber there. Ha! Fat chance that little piece of rubber has of doing anything to soften the impact! On mine, after only a few thousand miles of towing, the rubber split. As you can hear when you just wobble it around, there is just so much clunky slop in the whole system. In the end, on one trip I mounted a camera on the side of the truck bed to see what was happening. The whole hitch frame flexes and bends, and under one of these 'rear-ender' experiences, the whole back of the frame lifted clear of the bed - no wonder it was rotating. In the end I swapped out hitch and pinbox for a Reese gooseneck and cut out the middle man. Sooooo much better!!!!

[@TravelsAbound]

Great info! Good to know that I am not the only one that had these issues. Like you, we were only pulling an 11k camper at the time. I can't imagine what the hitch would had have done if we were pulling closer to that 21k weight. We have since upgraded to a B&W Companion. I debated on getting a Goosebox but may get one later on. So far I love this Companion. Glad the Reese is working well for you. Thanks for watching! Safe travels!

[@brett5595]

@@TravelsAbound skip the goosebox unless you enjoy climbing up into the bed to attach safety chains, add a lock, or add air to the bag. nothing can be done from outside the truck unless you have sis foot long arms.

[@QuickStyleMotorsports]

Great review! I was thinking the same thing prior to even purchasing for the dislikes. Good to hear what I was thinking.

[@TravelsAbound]

Thank you! Glad it was helpful. Thanks for watching!

[@timbearup7264]

I had the recon hitch with the above aftermarket bars in my 2018 Chevy. I liked how easy it was for me to take in and out and it seemed to function well other than the few problems that you pointed out. I now have a 2021 Chevy with the puck system. I bought the plate adapter to bolt to the truck and mount the recon to. There is so much movement in the plate to truck as well as the plate to hitch that I didn’t even leave the driveway with it. I had the local dealer that I bought it from call demo and they say it’s safe and there is nothing to help the situation. I couldn’t believe how much movement there was when the camper was attached. Almost as the plate was going to rip out of the puck system as it pulled up as well as front to back. I’m now debating which hitch to buy as I serf KZbin videos. I enjoyed your video as there isn’t a lot of recon reviews other than large companies.

[@TravelsAbound]

Great info! I was told the same as you that the clanking and shifting of the hitch was "normal" but it made me feel uneasy too. After I filmed this video I decided to trade the Demco in on a new B&W Companion with the puck style base to fit my factory prep. We just returned from a camping trip and wow the difference! You may reach out to your local dealer to see if they will take a trade on your current Demco like my local dealer did. Thanks for watching the video! safe travels!

[@TRAVELSWITHDELANEYTHEPODCAST]

I can’t remember what brand of 5th wheel hitch we use to have. It worked well but it was so heavy to remove.

[@TravelsAbound]

Right! Some of them require help from friends to remove haha. This Demco was not bad when taken apart. Thanks for watching! Hope you and Patty are well!

[@shawnakers5420]

Loc tite blue and a thin rubber mat, carpet, hell a Towel would probably stop sliding. Steel on steel is a big no no. Bed liner. Anything will help from sliding. I have bed liner and pull a 45' dry 17k fifth wheel camper and never had it slide once or a bolt loosen. Now the bent head I'm going to haft to check. But seems range of motion and hills would be causing that my guess.

[@yukior88]

Interesting I came across this video. I just reached out to demco about the head bending. We also had that set screw mount break, I had it fixed and pounded in a wedge in that little gap of the neck. Ours had a tendency to turn as well so I used a Horse stable mat and it fixed the problem

[@TravelsAbound]

It's good hearing feedback on your experience. Thank you! The reviews on this hitch were nothing but good from what I could find and it seemed to be a great hitch when purchased. I was disappointed in the hitch quickly after that though and have heard from several others that have had the same issues. Thanks for watching!

[@nogodsnomasters357]

Some ugly welds on that setup too. Very reminiscent of some Harbor Freight jack stands

[@TravelsAbound]

Good point!

[@TexasHarleyBoy65]

I noticed that, as well

[@rush1764]

Welp, in this situation, the old saying goes: ya get what you pay for.

[@TravelsAbound]

Exactly!

[@enroutewithchuckandcherie]

Nice video, friend!! 😁

[@TravelsAbound]

Thank you!

[@PeeWeeHenson]

I RUN A ANDERSON ULTIMATE. NO COMPLAINTS YET. CAN YOU COMMENT ON THE ANDERSON ULTIMATE ?

[@TravelsAbound]

I have zero experience with the Anderson ultimate but it seems to be a good hitch with a lot of positive reviews. I recently purchased a B&W companion but may purchase an Anderson sometime down the road to see how I like it. Good to hear you like it!

[@jakefischer88]

Try an Anderson adapter and compare

[@MultiMan509]

It’s called loctite man

[@michaeljones7668]

You need to change out your gooseneck ball. Your goose neck is moving not the Recon

[@TravelsAbound]

I tried 2 different brand new gooseneck balls. Both were tight and in place in my factory installed receiver. Could it have been turning the ball, yes, but as stated in the video, I over tightened the bolt on the base to try to alleviate the problem. Didn't help. To have a Demco rep say that their hitches do rotate some from time to time and they really couldn't help me, was enough for me to know I needed a different hitch. Plus, the base flexed front to back and the head was bent from normal use pulling only 11k pounds. Either way, we have a Companion now with zero problems.

[@joemeyer2726]

GenY