Lets clear things up a bit. The original 18K Companion sat on top of the bed corrugation. If towing with a newer truck (bed thickness is thinner) like my 2011 RAM Dually in the upper weights the base will push fore and aft and cause deflection/dents in the bed. My base also bent. B&W sent me a whole new base with hard plastic filler strips. That fixed the issue. To be clear I used the same base on my 98 RAM towing a combined 20,500# with ZERO deflection issues. I would say bed thickness played a part as they engineered the 18K Companion when beds had some real strength.
Around the time of my base replacement they were engineering the new 20K Companion base that has adjustable support strips that transfer the base directly to the low ribs of the bed and then to the bed cross rails. this system is good to it's rated amount with zero issues.
The Puck mount Companion fixed head and the puck mount slider hitches are the cream of the crop as they tie directly to the pucks that are bolted directly to the frame. ROCK SOLID!
President, B&W HeavyWeight FanBoy Club
