Originally Posted by
B727223Fan
I think you are on to something here because many of the B737 -800 wings had to be modified on the outer part of the wing structure before the winglets could be installed. Maybe the Wing loading at the Pickle Forks changed due to the installation of winglets.
I doubt that. The mass of the fuselage would be the same with or without winglets. So the load on the pickle forks would not be altered by the addition of winglets or bigger wings or whatever.... Lift = gravity