I believe that the "Not for hire" sign is for famers to exempt themselves from commercial carriage, which would put you under CDL territory. As far as personal use, the Kentucky CDL manual (page 1-1) seems be be the same as every other state. It is a little tricky under farm exemptions (page 1-2), but I'm nearly certain that it means that you use your vehicle for your farm only and are not paid to transport goods.

 

I have seen not-for-hire signs on trucks other than farm vehicles. Ain't saying it's legal, but people do it.

Last year I was stopped for no DOT number on my work truck. It has a 15,000GVWR rating, and ky started enforcing it on guys like us. Apparently, in ky, anything over 10,000lb GVWR requires a DOT number if you use it for work.

 

"Not for hire" may also be posted for insurance purposes as well, i.e. insuring your truck for personal use only.

Sorry you got hit for over 10k. This may be of help for people wanting to know if they need a DOT # for intrastate commerce.

 

One other thing...

in some states, California for sure, the registration cost is a LOT HIGHER for heavier trucks. Calif bases the registration fee on the weight of the vehicle as weighed on a commercial scale, at least for out of state moves.

I moved my F250 from Oregon in 2005, Oregon was about $35 for TWO years. California was something like $300 the first year based upon value and weight of the truck and supposedly goes down each year alittle bit. A 150 would have been less than half that amount only due to weight class.

With our latest political scramble for money I think the fee has almost doubled this year. Oh joy I can hardly wait.

I think in Oregon the cost break is above the F350 class.

So check your state to see if there is a higher fee for registration for that class truck. Could be an unpleasant yearly surprise. New trucks could mean killer fees.

Jim Henderson

 

I'm no expert to say the least. I do know that there is A LOT of gray are open to interpretation. I've actually had a state trooper state that they aren't as concerned with the licensing, as they are with registration. He said that they view the manufacturer's GVWR as a recommendation.

I have my F250 registered with weighted plates at 20K since that's my trucks GCWR. BUT, he said I could have it weighted for whatever I wanted. If I wanted 26K I could have it registered for that. Obviously as the weight goes up, so does the cost of registration. My tag is $311 for ONE YEAR. Given the economic situation, the state is looking for ANY money they can get their hands on.

I see F350/450 trucks with a flatbed trailer getting stopped all the time, and the HP breaks out their scales to see what the actual weight is. If you are under what your tag is weighted for, ok, if not, big fine.

They want to make sure we're not registering our truck for the minimal amount (like 10k) when we are going to be routinely weighing twice that combined wt.

Not to say that they aren't still busting guys for not having the proper license (in fact I know of a few guys who have gotten tickets for EMPTY 6 ton trailers). I don't have a CDL, but need to get one. On the back of my standard class C license, it states "Not to tow a vehicle with a GVWR less than 10,001 lbs"

 

Shouldn't that be that you can't tow a trailer MORE THAN 10,000#'s.

 

In N.C. you can actually get 3 weight tickets at the same time. Although they mainly target the big rigs, they are now cracking down on the smaller rigs.(1) If you are over what you are registered for, (2) If you are over the GVWR/GCWR of the truck and/or trailer, and(3) if your axles are over the limit. Been this way for years. No need to ask me how I know...

 

Let's not forget about the DOT medical card too.

 

actually I meant to type "May tow a vehicle with a GVWR less than 10,001 lbs"

Now I was talking to some guys with farm bureau about towing (my bro in law has a farm and I occassionally tow his gooseneck stock and flatbed trailers for him). His flatbed is a home-made triple axle job, and has a "rating" of 10,000bs. They said that since it was home made, they could put whatever GVWR they wanted. Now I don't buy that, but I have been trying to figure out how the HP would rate it. Assume 7000lbs per axle or 21K? Anyway, they had a manual (which I need to get) that specifies that as appointed by a local farm operator, I could tow these trailers and be exempt from Licensing and registration normally required. That's only when towing them specifically for farm use though. My bro in law has farm tags, but since I usually have a landscape trailer with lumber and tools for the decks/porches I build, I can't use farm tags. Farm tags are not to be on trucks that are used for other use. So I just have normal commercial weighted tags.

 

The back of my N.C. class A CDL reads as follows..."Class A: Any combination of vehicles with a GVWR of 26,001 pounds or more, provided the GVWR of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds."

 

Didn't someone say you could register the vehicle for whatever you wanted because the manufacturer limits are just recommendations?

From what was posted above, it seems that you cannot register the vehicle for more than what it is rated for by the manufacturer only less.

 

In PA you can request to increase the GVWR of class 1-4b vehicles, although you assume all risks with overloading the truck. I think it is a paper I would not want to sign.

The form is MV-1005 if you ever want to find it.

 

What you are registered for doesn't allow you to go over the GVWR/GCWR of the vehicle or combination. It only protects you from being ticketed from total weight on the roadway. A truck can be over the GVWR/GCWR which can get you a ticket, however if you have enough registered weight on the truck you cannot get a ticket for having too much weight on the roadway. It's a whole lot cheaper to pay for the registered weight up front than to get a weight ticket.

My 93' dually has 30,000# tags, which will protect me from overload on the highway, but this doesn't allow me to load the truck beyond the GVWR/GCWR. The fines for loading beyond registered weight are huge.

 

I'll throw this in again, but the only numbers that matter are the ones stamped ON the vehicle.

On your door tag (unless it has been changed for one reason or another) there is only a GVWR, FAWR, and RAWR. These are design limits with a safety factor. Will the truck fall apart if you excede them by a little? More than likely, no. If you do overload the pickup, you are reducing the safety factor, and the manufacturer will no longer be liable for something they said not to do.

When calculating the actual GCVWR of a combination, the GVWR of both the towing and towed vehicle are added. If the towed vehicle has no posted GVWR, the actual weight is used.

As far as calculating a GVWR for a home-built trailer, normally it is the sums of the axle ratings. For example, a gooseneck with two 12k axles will be rated for 24k.

The interesting part... a 24k trailer, when properly loaded, can actually weigh 32k# as long as you make sure the tounge has 25% of the weight, and that the truck towing can take 8k# tounge load.

 

Nope. All of our corn, wheat, soybeans, etc. are hauled to sale, and it's legal. Now if I was gonna haul corn for somebody else, it would not be "non-commercial", and I would need a CDL. It has to do with getting paid to haul it. Even if it's just reimbursement of costs that would be considered commercial.

The only "farm" specific exception to the laws that I know of is that farm employees are ALSO exempt from having to have CDL's even though they don't own the crop being hauled and they get paid to haul it.



Yes you can! You can also rent a semi truck and trailer, (to haul dirt, trees, freight, etc) and drive it legally without a CDL! Now if you borrow your friend's truck and haul dirt for your neighbor, THEN you need a CDL![/quote]

Yeah, the "wikipedia" driving school!

Yes, and when you talk about small businesses, farms, personal use, etc there are LOTS of exceptions. We still have to carry insurance, but it is much cheaper than commercial insurance.