dedmiston wrote:
I used to get rear-ended all the time in my old truck when we had a bumper-pull. That hitch was a godsend. I never had so much as a scratch on my bumper. I can remember most of the collisions pretty well.
* Very attractive woman in a brand new BMW in traffic. Her bumper was destroyed and mine was fine.
* A friend of mine coming down a hill near home. I was looking in my mirror and saw him coming down the hill in his company's van. "Oh hey, here comes Dave... Oh no, Dave's going to hit me.... Aaaand Dave just hit me." We pulled over and caught up on each other's family stuff and then I left him to make that tough call to his boss.
* Somebody hit me in a junker sedan in traffic and I was already running late. I waved to him and he waved "sorry", and then I kept going. He looked pretty relieved to not have to swap info.
* A teenage kid in a sweet new red Mustang hit me pretty hard after I'd just driven down to the Valley to have a new tooth implant fitted. He hit me hard enough to knock out the tooth and I jumped out of my truck like a mad bull. Then I saw it was just a kid and saw he'd destroyed his front end, so I shook his hand and told him the owner of the car was going to be way madder than I was, so I wished him good luck and sent him along.
So yes, I would leave the hitch in the receiver. It's one more layer of protection for you and one less thing to deal with when you come and go from your trips.
Those are some good stories.
I leave mine in the bumper of the truck. If you want to leave yours on the trailer it won't hurt anything so go ahead.