Thank you, I was making the mistake of assuming point loads centered on the plates. If anyone seeing this runs into the same issue confusing themselves, here's a convenient bending moment diagram I found online from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0143974X22006228
I'm designing a pin connection where there will be a large clearance between the inner and outer plates to accomodate movement. However, it's now being solely controlled by the pin bending given the distance between supports (outside edges of outer plates). This is because the clearance between...
