Illinois tie down laws

[sarti]

I have been trying to find the requirments for hauling equipment etc. on a 7k tandem axle utility trailer, such as what to use for a tie down... chain or straps and how many etc. tried thru state with no luck Thanks

 

[RandyT]

Falls under the same guidelines as federal tie down requirements. Just remember that if you are running the TC or higher plates that the trailer has to be safety inspected every 6 months. And TD or higher plates also require the tow vehicle to be inspected.

 

[sarti]

Thanks , do you know where I can find the laws

 

[RandyT]

This doesn't directly apply but can be relative since most people consider the federal commercial standards when tying down cargo on utility trailers.

Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR)

Starting at 393.100 and continuing down the page is the pertinent stuff. IL also considers 10,000# to be the start of the commercial vehicle cutoff. So a pickup towing a tandem axle trailer could be within the range,

 

[Beeenvenue]

I have been trying to find the requirments for hauling equipment etc. on a 7k tandem axle utility trailer, such as what to use for a tie down... chain or straps and how many etc. tried thru state with no luck Thanks

I looked for months for the Texas version. Internet searches were no help. Called DPS and they referred me to a licensing division who referred me to weights and measures who (although they enforce) could not provide the actual code of regulations and referred me to the county sheriff who referred me to DPS.

Others say “federal laws” but for intrastate (local) transport on county roads those do not have jurisdiction for non-commercial.

Very frustrating.

 

[BRMyers]

You may want to search JCAR. Illinois is great for passing laws, then they go to JCAR to figure out what the mean and set the standards/rules that have to be followed.

 

[bdog]

These are the federal laws but if you comply with these I am not aware of any state where you would not be adequate.

https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/sites/fmc.../Drivers_Handbook_Cargo_Securement_508CLN.pdf

 

[RandyT]

You may want to search JCAR. Illinois is great for passing laws, then they go to JCAR to figure out what the mean and set the standards/rules that have to be followed.

Throw in some court precedence and it all goes to heck in a hand basket.

 

[sarti]

These laws are enforced differently by the police anyway. My daughter in law works for Illinois sec of state and their police dept doesn稚 seem to have an answer either.. As far far as inspection goes seems like a truck with B plate pulling a trailer with a TC plate doesn稚 need inspected, but not even sure on that, looks like kinda of hit and miss ????

 

[RandyT]

These laws are enforced differently by the police anyway. My daughter in law works for Illinois sec of state and their police dept doesn稚 seem to have an answer either.. As far far as inspection goes seems like a truck with B plate pulling a trailer with a TC plate doesn稚 need inspected, but not even sure on that, looks like kinda of hit and miss ????

Correct truck B towing a trailer C doesn't require inspected. That same truck towing trailer D does. Any vehicle towing over 8001 pounds must be inspected.

 

[ruffdog]

Why have tie-down laws? I just scored some firewood that was laying on my country road because someone lost it off a trailer or truck. The piece was 2 feet in diameter and 8 feet long. I sure wouldn't want to hit that coming the other direction! I went ahead and cleaned it up and did my good deed for the day! :dance1:

 

[Oaktree]

Correct truck B towing a trailer C doesn't require inspected. That same truck towing trailer D does. Any vehicle towing over 8001 pounds must be inspected.

Are you saying there's no general safety inspection required in Ill.?
How do they keep unroadworthy vehicles off the road?

 

[TomIre]

Are you saying there's no general safety inspection required in Ill.?
How do they keep unroadworthy vehicles off the road?

Why in the world would you trust the government to do inspections? See the comments above about confusion among agencies and where to find regs. Simply mandate and enforce adequate insurance and then the person towing is responsible for any damages caused.

 

[RandyT]

Are you saying there's no general safety inspection required in Ill.?
How do they keep unroadworthy vehicles off the road?

No safety inspection on motor vehicles(passenger plates, motorcycle and Truck B plates) under 8000# gross weight. Trailers over 5001# require biannual inspections. The truck B requires inspection if towing over 8001#

Unsafe vehicles on the road are not a big a wide spread issue as most people make it out to be. Now may need to take into account that we don't have nearly the salt corrosion issues that places like NY and other eastern or more northern states have.

At one time IL did require inspection of all pickup trucks but that was abandoned over 40 years ago. My trailer now gets inspected by the daughter of the person that use to inspect my fathers pickup trucks.

 

[Oaktree]

Why in the world would you trust the government to do inspections?

Inspections aren't done by the government, they are done by service stations/repair shops who are licensed by the state to do so. Yeah, some of them (mostly dealerships or chain muffler shops, etc) can find things "wrong" that are not, but with a little common sense you can avoid those. It goes a long way to keep real junkers off the road.
I'm not crazy about emissions checks (a check engine light for any reason is an automatic fail), but I can see why they're needed in densely populated areas or those with air quality issues.

While I agree that driving an uninsured vehicle is dumb, not all states require insurance. And all the insurance in the world won't bring back someone who died because someone else's car didn't have safe brakes (for example).

 

[ruffdog]

....and, just because insurance is required, it doesn't ensure that people will buy it.

 

[newbury]

Are you saying there's no general safety inspection required in Ill.?
How do they keep unroadworthy vehicles off the road?

They got rid of general vehicle inspections in Mississippi a few years ago.
Many states have limited or no vehicle inspections.
Car Inspection Requirements by State: A Compendium | PartsGeek.com

 

[Ford850]

More important than the safety of the vehicle, is the safety of the driver. I'd like to see the numbers comparing vehicle failure to driver error. And even then, many times the driver blames the vehicle for an accident, because there's no way THEY were at fault.