3500 truck needs CDL?

[RedNeckRacin]

Ok I reread the regs from penndot and it's a "commercial motor vehicle" over 17k intrastate commerce or 10k interstate commerce. So it is business use. Here is the catch though, doing anything for "profit" makes it business use including trophies or winning a purse. That's why I have my class a and medical card, I buy, sell, and transport various things and could be in a sticky situation if I didn't have them.

 

[LD1]

While I didnt bother to confirm so I'll take your word, it's odd that PA sets the bar so low.

Certainly my makes things complicated. It ain't like all the info us posted when you cross state lines, like speed limits and such.

I don t think most people would even give it a second thought about crossing state lines with a trailer in tow. I have considered it many times but always end up finding what I am looking for within the state.

If it wasn't so expensive, and time consuming, I would consider getting my CDL. But I also don't like being held to a higher standard for moving violations, stiffer penalties, etc even if in a personal vehicle.

 

[TMGT]

I keep my class A up even though I don't need it anymore, easier to keep then have to retake if I let it expire. Only pain is now I have to keep my medical card up to date even if I'm not driving for someone. Va started that about 2 years ago.

It wasn't expensive or time consuming to get mine back in 06?

 

[ultrarunner]

Clear as mud as I see it and I still believe someone could conscientiously follow the rules as they understand them and still find themselves in jeopardy...

The kicker is I can tow a huge travel trailer and appear to be legal everywhere but so help me if I'm towing my tractor and implements across state lines for personal use...

Still thinking a RV trailer of the Toy Hauler type with the swing down ramp could alleviate a lot of anxiousness or even better one of those toy hauler 45' motorhomes!

 

[crabjoe]

Not in California. Any trailer over 10k need CDL. Unless it is RV then you can tow anything. The equipment and dump trailer dealer I bought my dump trailer from orders in 14k dump trailers derated to 9990lbs just for that reason.

Now that sounds dumb.. Because if your trailer + whatever is in the trailer is over 9990lbs, you're going to have to leave some of it on the side of the road to get the trailer's GVWR to below 9991 lbs.

BTW, aren't CDL requirements set by the Feds and not the individual States? I can't remember when, but I remember a big push years ago to get all States on the CDL bandwagon to standardize it across all 50 states.

 

[ultrarunner]

Or you can risk it knowing your rig is built to handle the load and some I know do just that around town and avoid the freeway weigh stations.

One local contractor had a special two axle 18k trailer built... it is a beast but not all that big... tows it with his superduty and might have his excavator on the back and that is why he had the trailer built...

 

[downsizingnow48]

Yep I would add a lot of contractors would want the heavy duty 14k undercarriage even if most their loads are much less. And the chances of getting weighed with a pickup are pretty slim. But the chances of having the trailer registration checked in any traffic stop are 100%. So down rating the trailer is a reasonable workaround to an unreasonable regulation.

 

[crabjoe]

Or you can risk it knowing your rig is built to handle the load and some I know do just that around town and avoid the freeway weigh stations.

One local contractor had a special two axle 18k trailer built... it is a beast but not all that big... tows it with his superduty and might have his excavator on the back and that is why he had the trailer built...

That's when LEO pulls them over when they pass a weigh station because they know how much an excavator weighs. What's going happen when LEO looks at the registration to see what the trailer's VWR is and sees it's carrying way over it's rating with the portable scales?

Cops don't carry portable scales for nothing. And from what' I've been told, the only reason to get something stickered for a lower rating is to keep the insurance and registration fees down... Because if you get busted carrying more than the rating, you'll be left with a fine, and on the side of the road, or worse towed.

BTW, some States allow vehicles to be rerated, for a fee, at a higher weight rating. People do this .... yes it costs them more in insurance and registration, but they can go through the weigh stations without worry they'll be stopped for being over weight.

 

[4570Man]

I haven't ever seen a pickup stop at a weigh station let alone be weighed. Around here the regulations or at least the enforcements are pretty loose.

 

[joefromga]

If you go through the highway scales it only weighs the axles or tandem and would most likely green light you through the fast lane and raise no eyebrows.

Unless youre pulled through the more accurate scales for some reason but I don't see what would trip that.

All the dot guys I've known are extremely lazy and don't want to chase down pickups but the roving officers with portable scales certainly may.

In my area I see ten thousand tractor trailers go by daily because of the ports and paper mill and probably a thousand dually pickups and I've never known a dually getting weighed. I'm assuming it's because of the easier lower hanging fruit of the loggers and container haulers.