ORV gets my vote! I had a bad experience Jayco. It was a long time ago (~2002) but our trailer had many issues, and Jayco had trouble approving repairs in a timely manner, to the point the dealer had possession of it for most of a year. Some of the issues were caused by driving on rough terrain, which the Jayco simply wasn't designed for. But the lack of good factory support was unacceptable. It sounded like they had made improvements in service since my experience, but the Thor takeover is unlikely to continue that trend.
ORV on the other hand... It's better built. Hands down. Hundreds of miles of dirt, rock, gravel, and non-existent roads, combined with 10s of thousands of snow & ice driving, and the ONLY thing that shook apart was a single window shade valance. I've never seen the slightest sign of chassis flex even in the harshest driving conditions. Compared to the Keystone trailer I originally cross-shoped, ORVs chassis is massive.
Now, I did have some issues. First one was greased brakes. Possibly by the original delivery driver? It has EZ lube hubs, and they got packed full and then some. I toured the ORV factory, and the axles are pre-lubed so it probably didn't happen there. But ORV covered replacement at a dealer (not even the one I bought from). I had several Schwintek issues, and ORV covered round-trip transport to the factory to replace that system each time. They always offered to send a transporter, but their insurance won't allow transport when roads are icy, in which case ORV reimbursed my fuel and RV park expenses. So I would absolutely buy another, or a unit from their sister company Northwood.
My only outstanding issues are 1) It still has Schwinteks. Keeping my fingers crossed I won't have more issues. 2) The brakes aren't big enough. I wish it had 7k axles for the larger brakes, and also I could share spare tires with my van. I am going to try heavier wiring, and different shoes, and hope that makes it acceptable. Otherwise I probably will do some sort of axle upgrade in the future.
