trailer weights 9990 or 10000

MrJimi · Feb 7, 2008

With my 25' trailer and my stubby Case, I could almost put anywhere for balance like in this picture
I hooked up empty trailer to my other truck an drove case up till back went down a little on the truck and I did this just for this fun of it

Builder · Feb 7, 2008

257NH said:
So if my combined weight is always below 26000 there is no practical difference between 9990 and 10000?

Not in terms of a CDL.

MrJimi · Feb 7, 2008

Keywords are private not for hire

Builder · Feb 7, 2008

MrJimi said:
Keywords are private not for hire

Doesn't mean a hill of beans in my state when it comes to being overweight. Just because you have "not for hire" painted on the side of your truck doesn't excuse you from a routine DOT inspection. If you're overweight, you're overweight. Your skid steer loaded is used to make money, not run in a Labor Day parade, right? That is considered use of or transportation of a vehicle that is for hire

An F-550 with a 15K trailer and a skid steer loader is making money in some way shape or form, not going to the beach with the wife & kids.

Hey man, do what you want. I'm not gonna lose any sleep if you get nailed for being underweight or for hire and get the crap fined out of you. I'm just trying to help you tow your trailer legally and not need a CDL.

bjcsc · Feb 7, 2008

257NH said:
So if my combined weight is always below 26000 there is no practical difference between 9990 and 10000?

Builder said:
Not in terms of a CDL.

This is somewhat misleading. The CDL requirement has nothing to do with the combined weight, even though that has been stated several times in this thread. It has to do with the GVWR. If your truck's GVWR is 16000lbs and your trailer's GVWR is 10001lbs or more you need one. It doesn't matter what's in the truck, or what's on the trailer. If the same truck was weighed on a scale at 9000lbs and the empty trailer was weighed on a scale at 1200lbs you would still get fined. The actual weight has nothing to do with it. It's the GVWR. This distinction is the source of much of the confusion about the laws...

Builder · Feb 7, 2008

bjcsc said:
This is somewhat misleading. The CDL requirement has nothing to do with the combined weight, even though that has been stated several times in this thread. It has to do with the GVWR. If your truck's GVWR is 18.000lbs and your trailer's GVWR is 6001lbs or more you need one.

You most certainly do not. In your scenario, the combined weight would be only 24,001lbs....well below the 26,000 CDL combined weight restriction and the trailer in tow is under 10,001.

"It doesn't matter what's in the truck, or what's on the trailer. If the same truck was weighed on a scale at 9000lbs and the empty trailer was weighed on a scale at 1200lbs you would still get fined. The actual weight has nothing to do with it. It's the GVWR. This distinction is the source of much of the confusion about the laws...

Huh?

I believe that is also incorrect because if the trailer is under 10,001 lbs, then any vehicle up to 26,000 can tow that trailer since the trailer is under 10,001 with no CDL. Now if the towing vehicle goes over 26,000, then only a Class B CDL is required.

bjcsc · Feb 7, 2008

Sorry, Math error. Should have read 16000 and 10001lbs. I edited it. What do you mean by Huh?

Forget about what the trailer weighs. If it's GVWR is 10001lbs and you pull it with a truck that has a GVWR of over 16000lbs you need a CDL as the combination exceeds 26000lbs. The second part of what you said is correct, provided the trailer's GVWR is under 10000 (hence the 9990 rating he found)...

Builder · Feb 7, 2008

bjcsc said:
Sorry, Math error. Should have read 16000 and 10001lbs. I edited it. What do you mean by Huh?Forget about what the trailer weighs. If it's GVWR is 10001lbs and you pull it with a truck that has a GVWR of over 16000lbs you need a CDL as the combination exceeds 26000lbs.

And I have always maintained that position, when have I stated otherwise?

I think where you are mistaken is trying to find a position where any trailer under at 9990 or 10,000 (as the original question was posted) would EVER require a class A CDL. That is not possible. You can tow a trailer under 10,001 with any vehicle up to 26,000 and not be required to have a CDL.

"The second part of what you said is correct, provided the trailer's GVWR is under 10000 (hence the 9990 rating he found)...

Actually, it's GVWR is under 10,001lbs. A 10,000lb trailer falls under that limit.

bjcsc · Feb 7, 2008

Builder said:
And I have always maintained that position, when have I stated otherwise?

I'm not saying you did. I have no doubts as to your clarity on the issue. My only point is that when people (in general) talk about trailer weight is gets confused with the GVWR. Most people get confused by the difference...some people think that as long as you don't fully load the trailer you're OK...

CumminsLuke · Feb 8, 2008

Builder said:
I'm envious of your lack of "regulation", however, I'd like to say that what you're doing isn't safe. It's beyond the saftey limits of what your truck was designed for. I know you're aware of it and I also know that a lot of farm country LEOs don't enforce any truck laws and I'm not trying to "preach" at you. I hope for your sake, you never have a collision, because I personally know a state DOT official here in PA that testifies in cases just like that. They dig up the information about what your truck can handle and when they find anything over the limit, they go after everything you own.

Where I live, in a typical DOT routine truck stop this is what happens: There's level 1,2 and 3 inspections. A level 2 is typical. You are asked to produce all papers. If you get through that, you are asked to produce a med card and a log book, show that you have a fire extinguisher and 3 red triangles. When your registration is being checked, that's when they would discover that 30,000+ lbs is FAR in excess of any pickups capability and you would be put out of service immediately and given a written summons for being "out of registration parameters". While that's going on, your truck's trailer weights and trucks weights will be checked with scales. If any are overweight, you are immediately out of service.

That's just the tiop of the iceberg. You should consider yourself lucky to be able to be that far in excess of your truck's capacity and not get nailed to the wall, like you would in my community.

I would also say that the DOT laws are becoming much more of a set of "federal" regulations as each year passes. My guess is that if you got a copy of your DOT regs, even though they're not enforced in your community, you'd find you are not within the DOT parameters for a safe rig.

Everyone is a prouct of their enviroment. Our enviroment is one of regulations to the book. The laws enforced in my area are the federal DOT guidelines.

You and I have been debating things online for years. I am not sure you even realize who I am? You sure have done a complete 180 in a lot of areas, especially brand of truck.

Anyhow, not trying to bust your chops.

Tell me this though, when I pull up to the auto auction and there are 20 1-ton pick-ups pulling 48'-53' wedge car haulers and they are all plated for somewhere around 26k-36k, how is it that we all get by with that without being nailed? What about the hundreds if not thousands of hot shotters out there running at the same levels as me, they are legal as far as licensing issues are concerned and I know they have the proper insurance as do I. How do they get by with it?