Here's a photo of my tow set up for flat towing my Samurai. Now, keep in mind; flat towing a car means there is ZERO tongue weight. Also, the towed car has brakes slowing down the car when the truck is slowed down. There is no forward forces, or at least, not much since the towed car's brakes are kicked in.
In the photo you will see that I use a 18" extension that is chained to the truck using turn buckles. The chains are long and looped back to make a loop of chain that my Samurai tow bar chains attach to. (Not really chains, I use coil cables to keep chains from sparking on the ground when the terrain is uneven)
From the 18" extension is a Brake Buddy surge brake. This attaches to my Samurai's brake peddle to apply the brakes when I slow down. Attached to the Brake Buddy is the receiver hitch and ball.
Look close and see that I use anti-wobbles on each connection. Along with the tensioned chains, this extension is SOLID. It could handle maybe 100 to 150 pounds of tongue weight I suppose, but if I ever did that, I wouldn't drive that way on mountain terrain and I would definitely keep my speed 55 and under.
This photo extension total length is 39" long.
When I do tow a trailer with tongue weight, I use my double receiver "Torklift Super Hitch" with a Super Truss extension, a dual 2" tube that are trussed together in order to increase tongue load at the ball.
