rich

the scale houses dont pay to much attention to weight on hotshots its more the tags and signage that was what i was told by the guy at the La scales. most hotshots dont haul more then10 to 12k on the trailers. the dot guys that most have to worry about are the ones that drive around. i see more car haulers without dot stuff then i see anybody else.

06dually

I've went across scales in three states haulin anywhere from 20k to 34k+ gross and I've never recieved any kind of violation....although I will tell you this, I've been chased down before and had to turn around and go back and weigh, I've always been asked for my CDL and medical card(which I have), and they've always wanted to see my registration(which I usually have at least 17ton plates). Oh, btw, my dad was involved in a collision once while grossing about 30k and the insurance company paid just fine.

GAmes

I crossed three scales between last night and now. Two in Montana and one Idaho/Montana joint use. I had a 14,000 lb GVWR trailer hooked up putting my GCWR at 24,500. That is way over manufacturers ratings. The only thing the scale house guys were looking at was the registration and the cash I handed them for permits. Now if I exceed 20,000 on an axle............

astevenson

I have heard horrer stories of guys hauling there race cars long distances and DOT had shut them down for not haveing a drivers log book. Around here If you are driveing a comercial vehicle and drive over 100 miles a log book is required.
The story I heard (2nd hand) was a guy was hauling his race car to a race and was stoped by DOT. He was over 100 miles from home and did not have a log book. They conciderd him comercial due to the fact he was going to a race that had a payout at the race whick made it for profit even though if you have a race car you know the best we can hope for is to break even or at least pay for the fuel. Since he had no record of the last 7 days of driveing and non driveing hours they shut him down for 10 hours. Like I said this is 2nd hand info I drive a service truck for trucking company and I am required to keep a log book of all my on and off duty hours wether I am driveing or not.

Mark Hodowanec

So if I don't have registration for any particular weight, what can my 2500 legally tow in VA? How do I find out the State DOT requriements & Federal laws?

Soundns like based on your statement, as long as I don't exceed the GAWR or tire rating, then I am OK. If I increase the tire rating (w/ some 19.5's) & add Timbrens or airbags can I go up to a dually GAWR as the axles essentially are the same?

RickCJ

If not registered, nothing legally!

The DOT go by the axle and tire ratings posted inside your driver door. So if you load the trailer up correctly you may get close to 30k gvw.
Besides the OL' Dodge will pull it but anything over 20k gvw is just too much for a 3/4-1 ton pick up.

Mark Hodowanec

So, if I tow my jetski trailer (less than 1000 lbs.) and I just have a regular registration (nothing special to tow a trailer), I cannot legally tow? That does not make sense.

Mark Hodowanec

What are pressure tables - a table w/ tire ratings vs. tire pressure?

ptgarcia

[quote=Mark Hodowanec;1421809]So if I don't have registration for any particular weight, what can my 2500 legally tow in VA? How do I find out the State DOT requriements & Federal laws?

It depends on the state. You need to combe through the VA DMV's requirements for the pertinent sections to be sure. And to be honest I have no idea where to find the pertinent Federal laws.

Or exceed Fed. requirements, which I believe is 26,000 lbs per axle, but don't quote me on that.

Well, I know the 11.5 AAM axle is good to just under 11,000 lbs per AAM, but I'm not sure if Dodge's rating superceeds that. That may be something to look into further, because those 19.5's can carry 4500 lbs each. So I guess potentially you could carry 9000-lbs over the rear axle with 19.5s. With 22.5s I think that goes up another 1000lbs or so.

RickCJ

What exactly do you want to know?? You can tow whatever you want as long as the axles/tires/registration and license etc... are in order!

A regular registration list your truck as 3/4 ton, what? 9000 gvw? Truck weighs 6500 lbs? What the rear axle weight limit 5500? Do the math.
Most 3/4 ton can haul 1000 lbs and a 1 ton can haul 3000. That is the max pin weight also.

ptgarcia

Yeah, it tells you how much capacity the tire loses for every PSI under max inflation.

Bonshawman

The Fed's promulgate motor carrier/commercial regs, which include driver licensing, but they leave it to the states to administer the driver's license portion. Different states define "commercial" differently.

The Fed's define it not only by weight (49 CFR 383) (CMV) as "used in COMMERCE" if the motor vehicle" (a) "has a gross combination weight RATING of 26,001 pounds or more inclusive of towed unit(s) with a gross vehicle weight RATING of 10,000 pounds....etc"

But the Fed's further define (49 CFR 383.3 Applicability) (a) as "operates a commercial vehicle in INTERSTATE, FOREIGN or INTRASTATE COMMERCE",

and they define a "Non-CMV' as vehicles not fitting the above definition. In 49 CFR 390 General, 390.3 (f) exceptions (f)(3) "the occasional transportation of personal property by individuals not for compensation nor in the furtherance of a commercial enterprise".

A well balanced and secured load, which does not "appear" to the trained DOT officer's eyes as "overloaded", so long as no other easily visible infraction presents, will often drive on by.

If stopped, depending on the whim of the officer, they may check your door decals or data tags (truck and trailer), your truck decal axle ratings, your tire ratings and inflation, your equipment, log book, med card, license and of course your tags, to determine your "declared" weight. They may also scale you to see how your actual weight relates to these.

In FLORIDA, a "heavy truck" is considered over "8000 pounds", and requires that the maximum GVW of the truck, passengers, any cargo PLUS the GVW of the "towed unit" and its maximum cargo be "declared" for purposes of registration. If all of that is 26,001 pounds or more "in combination" by weight alone (not use) they consider you commercial, and you needs tags and insurance, etc. Florida statutes conflict (one definition includes "in commerce", the other statute leaves it out).

A lot of what "drives" the DOT is how you LOOK. Clean, well balanced/loaded/secured, all lights working (if after dusk), will go a long way. Plus, as a courtesy (so they don't chase you down), if you enter scales, they often green light you. Having to run you down gets their blood flowing even before you roll the window down.....

linetrash75

You can haul way more than 1000lbs in a 3/4 ton easily more like 4000lbs if your truck registered for 10500lb=6500lbs pu+4000lbs load.
And more like 7000lbs in a 1ton 7500lbs truck +7000lbs load=14500 if register for this ammount and not exceeding rating on tires.
All the B.S. about what is printed in the door and the owners manual is just crap rip the sticter out and throw the owners manual in the trash. The Dot doesn't care what Dodge says it cares what the tire that is carrying the load says period. And they care what weight your registered for it better be =or> than what is printed in black and white.
Jed

truk

in ohio if trailer weight is more than 3500 empty its commercial, but would the truck have to be

jgarrett

so if i put my #16000 dump truck on a gooseneck and pull with my pickup i;ll be illegal. Is it better to drive the truck with expired tags or pull it. The trip is four hours south on US 23 from columbus ohio to pikeville ky thanks