That's if it passes and they don't hassle you over mods.

I would hate inspections.

 

If it doesn't pass a simple Texas State Inspection,it doesn't need to be on the road.
This isn't ****-fornia...the inspectors here could care less about your mods as long as the required safety equipment is in place.
And you're also saying it's worth over $400/year to keep someone from doing a basic safety inspection on your vehicle?
JL

 

CA registrarion goes down every year as the vehicle gets older. The registration on my 2001 F250 is about $160. We do have to get smog check every 2 years after the vehicle is 4 years old (or is it 6?) or if the vehicle is sold.
2 questions about "safety inspections"
1) What kind of things are State of Texas looking for?
2) Is there really a problem with people removing safety equipment that they need to be inspected every year?

 

Safety equipment, in New York at least, pertains to brakes, lights, suspension parts in good shape (not loose), tires, horn, wipers, that sort of thing.

Talking to a few local mechanics who do inspections (here we get both safety, and emissions if the car is less than 25 years old), you'd be amazed at how many times they have to fail someone for safety-related items.

 

It's okay. We aren't really looking for any more immigrants.

 

Texas safety inspection checks for things like the following:
Exterior lighting all intact and functional as designed, and NO type of illegal riceboy crap.
Brakes function properly.
Tires must have a legal tread depth.
No leaking exhaust
No obviously missing emissions equipment(cat converter,EGR valve,etc)
Wipers function
Horn function,etc,etc.
You'd be surprised at what all people neglect on their cars that must be repaired before they can pass an inspection. I did inspections here for a couple of years,and it's shocking what people drive around.
JL

 

Out here behind the cheddar curtain, 10k will be a "C" plate, like my F-250. F-150s get "B" plates and small trucks (like a Ranger) get an "A" plate. Above 10k, you get a commercial plate.

 

Really? So this on-paper castration of my truck serves some useful purpose?

 

Potentially... And if you were on this side of the border, you could even get personalized plates under 10k if you wanted. Something those of us over 10k are left out in the cold on. I had to give up my ham radio plates when the trucks grew up with me...

More importantly is the DOT garbage. 10k is the magic number for a commercial vehicle (truck used for work). Typically pickups fly under the radar if there isn't any lettering or equipment on the truck to give them away as a work truck, as cops assume they're personal vehicles. Trucks over 10k used for personal use don't need to worry about it until they hit 26k (and there's rumors that RV's over 26k can be driven without a CDL). Some stuff like fire extinguishers and triangles should be in every vehicle on the road, but they're not required in non-commercial vehicles, where they are in an work truck over 10k GVW. The every other year medical exams are kind of a joke for most people, but if it keeps crackheads out of 18 wheelers, I guess we just deal with it...

 

Yes, it does Funny how NOTHING ELSE CHANGES but the sticker on the door. And you have to PAY EXTRA for it

 

Nothing else changes but the sticker on the door, but doesn't that sticker on the door limit how much you can tow/haul? Let's just say his truck weighs 7,500 lbs. With a 10,000 lb gvwr he only has a payload of 2,500 lbs. If it was 11,400 then it would have 3,900 lbs of payload. Assuming a 25% pin weight for a 5'er that would be a difference in towing of 2,500/25%=10,000 and 3,900/25%=15,600.

 

Yeah, that's a good point. But then, who cares if he's not registered commercial in the first place? This brings up the whole "is it legal for me to tow XXX even though I am over the book's recommendation?". For me, I have 3.73 gears in my F250, putting me at a max trailer weight (by the book) of 10,250lbs or something like that. With 4.30's it says I can go to the max of 12,500.

But there's nothing any different than gear ratio, so is it really ILLEGAL for me to tow the full 12,500? Nope.

 

And you have a great point. In fact, I almost didn't buy this truck because of that. I was pretty miffed that I was buying an F350 with no payload increase over a similar F250.

But it has the overload springs, slightly heavier axle, and the 4" blocks the "normal" F350s have, so I figured the door sticker doesn't mean much. Might be an issue if I were running commercially though.

 

That's the thing though. The sticker on the door is the gvwr, not the recommended gcwr or tow rating from Ford. Ford gives a different tow rating based on engines and rear ends, but those aren't legal numbers and mean nothing. I can legally tow more weight with my 5.4 than someone with a same era 7.3 can because we both have an 8,800 lb gvwr and the psd weighs more.

For example, my 5.4 weighs 5,800 lbs and has an 8,800 gvwr(legal number) and a recommended tow rating from Ford of 9,200 lbs. That means my payload is 3,000 lbs and I can legally tow a (3,000/25%) 12,000 lb 5'er even though Ford says I shouldn't. Ford rated the f250 7.3 to tow 15,000 lbs. Take a crew cab, automatic, 4x4, fully loaded 7.3 that weighs 7,800 lbs. It still has the same 8,800 lb gvwr and only has 1,000 lbs of payload. That means that even though Ford says it can tow 15,000 lbs it can only legally tow a (1,000/25%) a 4,000 lb 5'er.

Tom, I don't know the rules for where you're at, but I know here that what the number on your sticker says is the most you weigh. If you have a 10,000 lb gvwr here, you can't go over 10,000 lbs even if you have the exact same truck that is rated for 11,400 somewhere else. Commercial or personal.

 

Might want to look into this.
Official: Ford 6.7-liter PowerStroke gets 800 lb-ft as of next week, upgrades available — Autoblog

Ford sure isn't messing around with this whole Heavy-Duty truck HP/Torque War.