More than one way to skin this cat, and most have been mentioned.
I leave my hitch in the bed and cover it with my roll up tonnue cover. Fits under the cover snug as a rug and can't tell its there. When I do have to remove my Reese 15k slider I break it down into two 60 pound pieces and take it out. I put it on the garage floor next to my boat. But I do have a folding leaf table in the shed I can slide it onto if needed. back the truck up to the table, drop teh tailgate and slide it off onto the table.