WD hitch help with TC load?

Grit dog wrote:
Maybe I was looking st this all wrong.
Someone correct me here if I'm still all wet, but a wd hitch doesn't appear to actually take pressure off the trailer tongue to hitch ball connection, but rather it's pulling down on the trailer tongue/hitch and leveraging it, at the hitch ball location to pick up the back of the truck. Effectively putting more downforce on the tongue to hitch ball connection.

If that's really what's going on, then yes it seems plausible to say put an oversize wd hitch cranked up to more than just the tongue weight of the trailer. Trailer is stil planted solidly on the ball.
Idk about other unintended consequences towing like this, but seems worth a shot.
Another question is how much bending force upward can you put on the truss extension? Would think the same as it's designed for in the opposite direction.

You are correct. The torque bars on the W/D hitch maintain a substantial force pulling the ball and trailer connector together. They also have the effect of lifting up the back of the truck taking weight off the rear axle and pushing some of it to the front axle with the balance to the trailer axle.

I put together a quick drawing that helped me put it all into perspective....

Case 1 and 2 are actual measurements I took on my truck and trailer as I explained in a previous post.
Case 3 is calculated from the real data, taking the W/D hitch to the EXTREME to pick up all the tongue weight plus more as per the original post. It shows what would happen theoretically if you could adjust the W/D hitch enough. In my case, and I suspect with all other hitches, I was not able to make the adjustment necessary to achieve this as Case 2 is the practical maximum.

Even in case 3, if you could find a hitch that would do this, the upward force is quite low and the extension and receiver would have no trouble handling it.

I should also point out that we have only been talking about static loads where the rig is not moving. Where a W/D hitch adds real benefit is handling the dynamic loads when you are driving. As you go over bumps in the road and your rig bounces, the torque bars on the W/D hitch flex and resist movement. This greatly decreases the loading on your extension and is why I always use my W/D hitch to limit stress on my rig. If you look at the Torklift SuperTruss, their 48" extension will handle 600 lbs tongue weight, but if you use a W/D hitch, that limit increases to 1200 lbs.