SuperGlide is PullRite's automatic-sliding fifth wheel hitch. It was built to fix the single biggest headache of towing a fifth wheel with a short bed truck: running out of room between the trailer's nose and the back of the cab when you turn. Here's what causes that problem, how SuperGlide solves it without you ever leaving the driver's seat, and how the pieces work together.
The Short Bed Clearance Problem
Short bed trucks are everywhere, and a lot of people tow fifth wheels with them. The trouble shows up the moment you make a sharp turn. The trailer's front cap swings toward the cab, and on a short bed there isn't enough distance to keep it clear. Even a simple turn at a gas station or a tight campground loop can put the trailer into the back window.
The fix is to get the trailer's pivot point farther back from the cab when you turn. That's the whole job of a slider hitch. The question is how you get that movement, and what it costs you in effort.
Why Manual Sliders and Extended Pin Boxes Fall Short
The industry came up with a couple of answers before we did, and we weren't satisfied with either one.
Manual sliders
A manual slider can move the hitch back, but you have to do it yourself. Stop the truck, climb out, pull a pin or release a lever, slide the hitch, reset it, then make your turn. Climb back in. If the spot is tight, you're often blocking other people while you do it. And if you forget a step, you've created a problem instead of solving one.
Extended king pin boxes
An extended king pin box pushes the trailer's pin forward to buy clearance. It changes how the rig handles and it doesn't fully solve the clearance issue on a hard turn. You can still run into the cab when you crank the wheel all the way over.
How SuperGlide Moves Itself
SuperGlide is a cam-action automatic slider. Nothing for you to remember, no getting out of the truck. As you steer into a turn, the hitch head follows a set path that carries it back from the center of the truck's axle toward the rear of the bed. That rearward travel is the extra clearance you need, and it happens on its own, in proportion to how sharp you're turning. Straighten out and the hitch returns toward center. You drive; the hitch does the work.
The Capture Plate makes it automatic
Every SuperGlide model needs a Capture Plate to work. It bolts to your trailer's king pin before you tow. Once it's on, it locks the king pin to the hitch so the pin can't rotate on its own.
That locked connection is the key. Because the king pin and the hitch turn together instead of the pin spinning freely, the turning motion of the trailer drives the cam, and the cam slides the hitch head rearward. No Capture Plate, no automatic turning. PullRite offers a range of Capture Plates to match different pin boxes, including Multi-Fit Capture Plates that cover more configurations.
The Self-Locking Hitch Plate
SuperGlide uses PullRite's own hitch plate, the same plate that goes on every PullRite hitch except the SuperLite. When you back onto the king pin, it captures and locks the trailer automatically. There are no safety pins to insert and no levers to remember before you pull away. You hitch up, you confirm you're locked, and you go.
Weight Over the Axle and Less Sway
People move up to a fifth wheel partly to get away from the sway you fight with a bumper-pull trailer. A fifth wheel only delivers that stability if the hitch puts the load where it belongs.
SuperGlide positions the trailer's weight over the truck's rear axle. Carrying the load there instead of behind the axle takes stress off the truck and keeps the rig planted when wind gusts or passing semis hit the side of the trailer. The result is a steadier, more comfortable tow.
Traditional Series and ISR Series
SuperGlide started as our Traditional Series, and the sliding concept is the same across everything we build today. We've expanded the lineup to fit ISR (Industry Standard Rails), the rail pattern most fifth wheel rail systems use.
If your truck already has standard rails, the ISR Series lets you keep them and bolt on a PullRite hitch — a Super 5th, a SuperGlide, or the lighter SuperLite. You can also move over to PullRite's own ISR rail system, which is made from thicker, higher-grade steel than the budget imports.
Clean Bed Technology
If you use your truck for work the rest of the week, you don't want a bed full of brackets. PullRite's Clean Bed Technology rail system is fully removable. A turn of a post and the pull of a pin and clip takes it out, and you get a flat, open bed back for farming, hauling, or anything else. Drop it back in when it's time to tow.
Why It Has Held Up
PullRite has been building American-made hitches since 1974. We tow ourselves, which is why SuperGlide exists in the first place: we wanted equipment that actually solved the short bed problem instead of trading one hassle for another. The automatic cam-action slide, the locking Capture Plate, the self-locking hitch plate, and weight set over the axle all work together so you can make a tight turn without thinking about it. That's why SuperGlide has stayed the clear choice for new and seasoned RVers alike.