Bad Ramer Jamer

I got pulled over in Fl by truck enforcement. I was pulling my 3 car trailer. He said that I was a pick up truck,,,not a semi,, and I had to have 2 plate's. I politely told him I was apportioned, and legaly registered the way my state told me to. He was a real jerk and said I wasn't in Illinois anymore. I called the state of Il, and they faxed me some stuff to carry with me. But the cop told me if he caught me down there again with 1 plate, he was going to give me a ticket.

So how are you guy's plated. Apportioned? One plate, or two. Thank's.

badme

I just went to a class on this for New Hampshire. There was a Fed. officer giving the course, and as he went on he said that all the states we uniform on this. Up went my hand and I informed him that he was wrong. I told him he needed to hop in a truck and go to Florida, because when you cross the state line all the rules change and Florida is in their own world with their own rules. He told me I was correct, the state of Florida and the state of Maine is like that. Maine will be changing shortly to the same rules as the rest of the country, Florida is still fighting to stay as they are. He did say that if you go to Florida you have to play by their rules untill they join the rest of the country.I do not go to Florida and have no intentions of going. Hopefully some Florida guys will jump in with what you do need.

hyperrcng

and when you call down there to find out about a permit that the scale officer says you need but then write you a ticket for not having, they don't know what you are talking about. Suppose to have a $25 permit so if your inner bridge length little short, you can still gross 80,000 on the interstate.

badme

Welcome to the sunshine state, you just got to love it.

haulin-rv

You have to run no bed in FL for that to work. You are not the first person to have this problem.

Bad Ramer Jamer

You have to run with no bed for what to work??

Bonshawman

I always thought that states honored each other's tagging regulations, but if there were other specific requirements, one needed to comply with the state they were in.

I am in Florida. Florida issues one plate generally, affixed to the rear. My one ton 3500 dually is "tagged" for 29,999# (in Florida, if a truck's curb weight is over 8,000# it is a "heavy truck" and declares its weight, trailer weight & load all on the truck tag). My Freightliner is also a heavy truck, but because it is tagged heavier (don't remember the cut off), it gets two tags, with the one with the decal to be mounted front. Truck tractors only get one tag, which is also placed on the front.

In Florida, quirky state....pickup trucks towing non-RV trailers need to stop at Agricultural Inspection Stations (someone towing an Airstream filled with pot with an SUV jst drives right by....) - so all "hot shot" trucks do, too - it has nothing to do with use (commercial or private). I was stopped in my Dodge 3500 towing my 12' open trailer with a WWII Jeep (under tarp) on it - and IO checked the regulations on line and the cop was correct.

Both the Florida DMV and the Florida DOT have on-line websites, which also have the procedure manuals available for both, so it takes some reading, but one can obtain the regulations (which, of course, contradict each other...)

Also, beware of length laws for non-commercial connections. It is only a $20 annual fee for an over-length permit, also available on-line (DOT site).

Florida considers a truck with a "bed" which can be used for "cargo" (and what idiot would tow a 45' trailer and put "cargo" in the truck bed ?), a "straight truck" which has limited length allowed for trailers (info available on the DMV site). So they consider a box truck (like a UHAUL) a "straight truck" so to limit the length of the trailer they can haul - but they also consider a pickup truck the same.

Florida also does not even mention "goose neck" in their statutes - they say that a truck tractor is a vehicle which "carries a portion of the weight of a trailer using a fifth wheel connection", and that a straight truck "draws" a trailer. So if you have a goose, which "carries a portion of the weight of the trailer", but it is NOT a fifth wheel connection, you are a.....? I have contacted DMV and state legislators to have them either ADD "goose neck" or DROP "fifth wheel", and just leave the weight-carrying portion. You all can guess how this has been responded to......

But, if you take a CDL-A test with a "goose neck" you obtain a limited license which does not allow you to operate a fifth wheel commercially in combination.

I am correctly tagged and insured in Florida. I haul my 44' enclosed goose neck with my 3500 - no problem (one tag on truck, one on trailer). I also haul my 25' equipment trailer w/Dodge.

I haul my 45' equipment hauler with my Freightliner - one tag on trailer, two tags on FL70.

This may be the "Sunshine State", but there are a lot of shadows.