Tips on how to hook up at an extreme angle?

I have a Demco but there is no locking plate, it has the silver guide rails on the hitch. I have pulled them off or backed them all the way off....was pretty easy.....hooked up and then pulled out. If I had them off. I stopped, put them on and rehitched. Only took a few minutes. Without the rails in place, the hitch still works, it just does not "autoslide". If I had the rails backed off, I just slid them over once the trailer was straight and then tightened them.
My hitch is a few years old now so the design might be a bit different from the new ones.