acheda, very good thoughts. but what exactly does that sticker do for me? and why would I ever need it to be 15,000 # anyway? Does that allow me to haul 5100 # of stuff in the bed, or is it total w/towing? I am confused

 

if you re-register the truck for 10,000 lbs, and get scaled and weigh over 10,000 lbs, it will be a very big money ticket.

 

I'm kind of getting in here late. But if I understand the law correct, With a regular license you can pull any trailer or combo or trailers as long as they don't weigh over 10,000# total. Not truck & trailer just trailer. Or under 25,000 GCW of both truck & trailer. It doesn't matter if it is RVs or whatever. In Nevada, Arizona, & California they are starting to clamp down on RVs. They are requiring you to license your truck for GCW. Meaning if your truck is 6000# & your trailer is 10,000# then you pay a license fee based on 16,000# plus the trailer license. If you are stopped with a 12,000# trailer and only have paid fees for a 10,000# trailer then you pay an overweight ticket.
Now before anyone tells me I'm full of it, I personally know guys that have been stopped & have faced heavy fines. In these 3 States.

 

Is that scaled with a load in the box or with a trailer, or doesn't it matter?

 

it don't make any difference. they go by registered weight, and your total weight of truck, or truck and trailer.


when i first got my 88, the dealer registered it for 5,000 lbs. i noticed the weight about 1 month later, and went to the dmv office to correct it. the girl behind the counter could not understand why i wanted to raise the weight to 10,000, till i explained to her the truck had an empty weight of 7,000lbs.
that was when it dawned on her and i got an "oh, now i see what you mean."

and for the record, i have been scaled 5 times in the 20 years i have had it, each time with an empty, or close to empty trailer.

but there have been times i was running down the road at over 25,000 lbs towing mini excavators or dozers.

 

They WON'T register my vehicle for more.. keep telling me they won't check!

 

High, it was Jake's DMV man who had the correct answer. It doesn't matter what the rig is or how much it weighs. Sadly, most of the cops don't understand, and most of the DMV workers don't know either. What matters is whether or not you're getting paid for what you're doing. If it is all of your own stuff, you don't meet the definition of 'operate' or 'transport' . DinosaurFan, on work's old 'puter

 

Highmark18 ,

From your first post, starting this thread: Maybe I misunderstood, but changing the registration's declared weight (from 15,000 to 9900 lbs) to match the factory GCWR of 9900 pounds would be a step toward avoiding the need for a CDL if you can indeed avoid ever loading the pickup over 9900 pounds and if the DMV will let you change. As others & I mention, the fines can be large if you get caught overweight. These comments of mine about the declared weight are mostly focused on the truck, but it is my understanding that with an under 10,000 pound tow vehicle, most states (& the federal guidelines) will allow towing a combined load up to 26,000 pounds.

It still seems that some states do things that are not in the federal model, so it is near impossible to be perfectly legal if you are dealing with more than 10,000 pounds total. You can ask before you travel, but unless you get a very detailed written finding, it only takes one officer to force his understanding of the law upon you.

I think that kermmydog is right about the western states, but it is a way for them to get more weight fees from their residents. In most cases, out of state drivers may be treated a little better, depending on what their paperwork states as declared weight -- my MD paperwork (historic vehicle) does not even have a weight declaration number.

P.S.: There are a number of websites that try to post tables of the latest state laws so you can try to keep up on them. Searching for "towing weight limits" & similar wording should turn up some info. Printing & carrying this info with you would be a start at showing that you are trying to comply with the law. (Stating that you are legal in your state when you are in another state is not a way to get an officer on your side.)

One more P.S.: as DinosaurFan states, it is a good idea to appear to be as non-commercial as possible.

 

Looks like you only need a CLASS D IF you're towing for personal use. Take a look at pg 15 (pg 13 of the printed manual).

http://www.dps.state.mn.us/dvs/DLTra...p1%20FINAL.pdf

 

Here in missouri we use to register our half ton trucks with 12000# plate to avoid the
emission test. 12000# and above was exmept, than the state changed rules and requred vehicle to registerd by the GVWR. Yes 12000# plates cost more but theirs more money in emission testing.

 

Well, I guess at this point I am going to print off that page and carry it in the glovebox, at least it will look like I am trying. I think technically I am fine, but in this day and age you never know if somebody is going to try and make a name for himself in the highway patrol.

 

Are you going to be towing comercially? If towing commercially, even hauling construction equipment for jobsite to jobsite you are required to follow ALL of the regulations that are in place for your truck and trailer. There is a ton of stuff that needs to be done, even more if you cross state lines. I have been researching and getting my trucks ready since last fall for my excavating company.

With the "elected gross vehicle plate", even if you plate the truck at 15K you would technically only be able to put the weight of the front axle and the weight of the rear axle combined for carrying a load in your box (getting you to 9900#). Now if you tow a trailer and have your truck plated at 24K, this will give you a combined weight rating for your combination vehicle (truck and trailer) again if you go over what the weight sticker of the truck say for either axle of the truck but under the total weight of your plate you will get a a fine for improper load. In which timie you will be required to move the weight around to get to the proper rating. This is the reason that semi trucks have sliding fifthwheel plates, and trailer axles, to be able to fine tune the numbers to be legal.

In Michigan, if I had that combination and only towing my personal equipment around (large garden tractor, or pick up truck) I would not be required to have a CDL or cross any scales, or have weight rated plates. However if a DOT officer is bored or if I look like I'm doing anything unsafe he will pull me over and check things out.

Toyman

 

Some good info but it all comes down to what your state says, and there is a good chance they will be clueless and it will come down to how any officer is feeling if you get pulled over. Theoretically you shouldn't have a problem towing that empty with a class C.

As someone else mentioned it is total BS when I can't pull a 24' tandem dually behind an '05 F350 loaded to 30K lbs GCVW, and have all my life, but some senile 80 year old can go cruising by in a 50 foot motorhome when he has only ever driven a Cadillac previously. I think the GCVWR needs to be upped to at least 35K if not 40K for a class C and anything with a drivers seat higher than 6' and vehicle longer than 20' needs to have drivers courses and a higher license level. There is my rant.

I know around here DOT is cracking down more and more and setting more portable scales up in the last few years than I have ever seen before. But I have never seen a motorhome pulled over, it is always a garbage truck or some poor SOB with a gooseneck.

 

Highmark18, Thanks to Toyman & kermmydog I see that my thinking may have been incorrect, at least in some states. IF one's state of residence has a declared weight on the registration that is intended to be a maximum declared combined gross vehicle weight, then anyone with a trailer would have to add the highest weight they ever expected the tow vehicle to ever be plus to the highest weight they ever expect the trailer to ever be. Applied to Highmark18's case, it would have to be more than the 15,000 pounds. It is sad to have to pay this inflated weight fee if one only tows occasionally, but all the states are out for the $$$$. (This approach might make sense for a semi-tractor that pretty much always pulls a trailer, but expanding it to other vehicles is really quite unreasonable.)

It was my error to be focusing on the tow vehicle only and I bet even some officers in the field do not fully understand this situation. It seems that the DMV's are in competition with the IRS for maximizing confusion . . .

 

I think it is still going to make a difference if you are towing commercially.

I have a friend from Indiana and he had to plate his truck for the capacity of the truck, there trailers (i think) are registered that way also. This being for personal use, and every state is different.

The best way to end the debate here is for the original post to tellus whether he is towing for hire or not.

Toyman