Trailer Hitch - Ball Mount Rattle

[magown]

Greetings Xoutpost. Long time lurker, first time poster here.

I have tried 5 different ball mounts (aka draw bars) in the receiver of my '05 X5 each and every everyone of has fit loosely. By loosely I mean there is probably 1 - 1.5 mm of vertical play.

This video @ hitchshim.com show's what I'm talking about. It looks like they have a solution but offer no way to buy it nor have they answered their phone.

The banging of the hitch when pulling a load is really starting to drive me nuts.

While researching this problem I found a very informative thread here in the E53 forum: New OEM Hitch Specs R a "Gotcha"!

In this thread I learned that there is an BMW Oem ball mount p/n 72-11-0-009-120. I also see that the hitch specs require a minimum of a 4" drop. That's something else I will have to address.

Here are my questions: Am I the only one out here who has a loosely speced Westfalia receiver? Or do they all have this much play?

Does anyone know if the Oem ball mount fits better then any of the aftermarket 2" mounts from Reese, Uhaul, etc..?

If so I can kill two birds with one stone if I obtain the factory piece.

If not I'll just try to shim the one I have and rock on.

Thanks in advance.