Sounds like there's more to this story - was he pulling a trailer, or did he have a bed full of stuff? Never heard of this issue.

 

Krejci,

Remember, these folks don't live here (Texas). Superduty's are not as common in many parts of the US as they are here. I've seen posts on this forum from folks in MA and CT being harrassed (screamed at, called names, etc.) at the fuel pump for driving a Superduty. Many Northeastern states seem to have these rules regarding our trucks. Almost seems hateful. If at some point the FEDs decided to get involved and force these rules on everyone, it will just add more ammunition to the growing seccesion movement down here.

 

Saw some tree hugger Eco nuts putting gas guzzler stickers on trucks and SUV's at one of the local malls.
We truck drivers are not loved, here is a good example of how much they let you modify a truck here.

 

No more to this story. He was not pulling and not hauling. I did find out through some contacts on the force, that it was possibly a training day and a show off day for one of the PC's. One of them has 8 years and the other has only 6 months on the force.
Additionally no other reason for the pull over, not for speeding, not for making an unsafe lane change, not even for not signaling during a lane change, in which he had to make in order to pull over (3 lanes, major city roadway). The inside term used is (found out) "they unloaded on him" (usually used for mouthy people). I have knowned this man for over 22 years. He would be the last person that would be mouthy. When he questioned the reason why the pull over they began to inform him that they could follow him home and issue him more tickets every couple of miles. They must have needed to empty there ticket books before the end of there shift or something.

 

Can't speak for other parts, but in CA, ALL pickups are registered commercially. All that means is that you pay for weight fees with your registration. It doesn't have anything to do with the requirements for a commercial driver's license. The definition of a pickup (CA vehicle code section 471) is a vehicle with an open box bed (pickup style) and a Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) under 11,500 lbs. It has nothing to do with the actual gross weight of the truck. It's based on the weight rating. If you take that pickup bed off and replace it with a flatbed, utility body, etc, and/or you have a GVWR over 11,500 lbs. it is no longer a pickup. Now you have a "motor truck". With very few exceptions, in CA ANY motor truck with a GVWR over 10,000 lbs needs a motor carrier permit and a CA#, regardless of its use. That will give you the authority to drive in CA. If you take that same vehicle outside the state of CA, now you need a DOT #. You can do all of this with a regular driver's license an no medical card assuming you are not pulling large, heavy trailers, or the GVWR of your truck does not exceed 26,000 lbs.

Sorry to the OP. Don't know anything about Canadian laws, but I answer questions like these for a living in CA.

Kevin

 

In Ontario if the registered weight exceeds 4500kg you must have a safety inspection yearly(yellow sticker), daily log, and a CVOR. Any vehicle rated over 4500kg is considered commercial.

Technically I think the officers were correct for the tickets issued. However if your friend wants to avoid this in the future he can register as "primarily used for personal transportation" he would get a red sticker for his license plate and his truck would then be licensed for a GVW of 3000kg. Now he wont need the commercial stuff.

 

Boy after reading this thread I am glad that I don't travel beyond the South. If some of those laws come down this way, it's going to suck big time. I feel for all y'all I really do, but I'm glad I ain't one of y'all. No offense.

 

This is why Ford in Canada offers an optional 4491 kg GVWR package for the F350 SRW. Specifiaclly to address this situation and give you a 350 that can be for personal use.

I am not sure what they change on the 350 to down-grade it like this, maybe some Ford employee out there can tell us?

 

Yep. I bought a truck with a shell, not knowing it had "House Car" plates. I took the shell off and hauled my dirt bike, and got pulled over. In court, the judge was laughing while he had to look it up.


Poor misguided people. I'm sure they would defend Al Gore for flying all over the place in his private jet.

It would make my day to catch someone in the act of putting a sticker on my truck.

 

That makes two of us...I would also love to find some knothead putting a sticker on mine.

 

Here in Connecticut a pickup can be registered as 'Combination', 'Commercial' or 'Passenger'

>8500Lbs GVW must be commercial.

Beneath that weight it could be registered as combination but you must pay your registration based on weight capacity. (kind of a road use tax)

If you NEVER intend to use a light duty P/U for work or other commercial purpose then you can register it as passenger but don't get caught with a rack or toolbox on it.
(towing your boat, taking the dirtbikes to the track, carrying something to the dump or bringing home firewood are all ok)

http://www.dmv.org/ct-connecticut/registration-faqs.php

 

Besides the registry issues, we also have inspection issues, all stickers are based on ODB port under the dash, so anything that is off the computer shows, also if you have a chip screwing with the tune that can fail you.
As well as lift laws, which is that science experiment I posted earlier,
bumper heights, head light height, tires past the fenders, visable smoke, window tint over 35%, exhaust noise over so many db's on a meter, horns that are too loud "air horns", leaving the trailer hitch in the receiver, etc, etc.

 

There ought to be more laws against this... It's pointless & dangerous.

You may think me an @$$, but I've always enjoyed inverting the hitches left in receivers.

as far as the horns, as long as you always have your factory horns connected as the primary horns, just throw a cutoff switch (upfitters work perfectly for this) and even if you sound them in the worng place, they'll never be able to prove that you could.

one hint to those out there that end up "heavy" and are hassled with being commercial...



these are words to live by

 

Just remember if you go out of state you're vehicle and licensing requirements are going to per that state's law, not your home state.

My uncle got tickets in Michigan for things very similar to what the OP posted here, despite his truck and trailer combo not being a CMV in his home state of Kentucky.

I'm a city cop and don't do much in the way of CMV enforcement, but the rules for what is and isn't a CMV are pretty lax here. Duallys and what not aren't automatically CMVs.

On a side note, I stopped a guy a few weeks back who had out of state truck plates on his car. They returned to the car, but Indiana won't let you put truck plates on a car (although you can put car plates on a light truck...) and I asked him why he'd put truck plates on. He said in his home state that truck plates let you use loading zones for 15 minutes regardless of what type of vehicle they were on. He worked at a restaurant and used the loading zone to move stuff in and out of his little car.

 

They'll still stop you, but if you go to fight it, you'll win. They have to honor the home states requirements as long as you can show that you aren't for hire. Trust me, I've fought enough of them in Ohio and that isn't an easy state to win at for hauling "violations".

This is of course, the primary reason why I hardly travel out of the south now. But some of the stuff that I've read on here is just stupid as far as some of the laws go. They don't make much sense.