Do you turn off the power to your tailgater each night so it has to go though a gain each day? If not the only time it should move is when it's looking for a channel and it should be quick When I am dry camping and using inverters and batteries I turn off the dish receiver when not watching TV and it went into startup each time. I think over time there would be additional wear and tear if it was to do this all the time.
From what I have read there was nothing the dish installer could have done to screw up my Tailgater so I would go ahead and do the fixed dish and save the Tailgater. I am however going to check with a local Sat shop and see if they have a 211k hooked up where I can test my Tailgater on their receiver..