Pav1973

Not getting off the subject here,

Yes Fed law is supposed to higher then what a state has in there own law books but that sadly is what some states pull,now granted I retired 4 yrs ago so SOME OF THIS MAY HAVE CHANGED.

One case in point the feds say the max speed limit on our intestates is 65 but CA is 55,OH 60,IN 60 for big trucks.

In VA= You are over your hours you pull into a rest area,now they have a 2 hr parking limit and yet there DOT will come by and with white chalk mark what time they seen you parked on your steer tire and after 2 hrs will wake you up and tell you to more it or get a fine,now fed laws says after your hrs are up you cannot move but VA does not care, you move or get the fine and no you won't win in court I tryed cost me more then the fine did to fight it.

I could go on and on,take some time and drop in for a meal at a truck stop and ask some drivers about this stuff,it's not some joke I am playing on ya.

The American truck driver is treat like a 3rd class citizen most of the time,thats why I retired and sold all my trucks, not worth it anymore.

Pav

jerry61

If you really want to do it right and legal.
You can even take "legal" advantage of the new Federal Income Tax
laws with a DOT approve sleeper on you truck.
And you aren't going to trade your truck in anytime soon,,if ever.

Shop for a nice flat top sleeper on ebay, etc. Threre are nice ones
and fairly cheap but you usually have to pick it up at sellers location.
The s/h would be a killer anyway.
Seek one in the areas that you travel on your job or near home.
You could get a taller stand up type sleeper but the wind drag would probably eat you up on fuel. The flat tops will probably be about 5 or 6
incehes above the cab,,,that's enough drag for me. Some folks even cut the sleeper down to be mountd even with the top of the truck cab.

Have your truck frame stretched by a pro for about $1,000 to $1,500 depending on the type frame you have,,,channel or tube.
The frame stretch also includes drive shaft extended and balanced, electrical, and brake lines.

If your new used sleeper needs any repair or restoration, paint, etc, do it yourself.
Mount the sleeper on the frame and wire it yourself.
You may want help or advice from a pro on cutting the door in the back of your cab for the passage way.
You may want to invest in a new boot for passageway.
Or you could just have the sleeper not connected to the cab (passage)

I am buying a 63" sleeper,,$300 now to do this very thing. I was shopping for a 48" a lucked into the 63" already the right color "white" and the sleeper is in good shape and needs nothing but a little cleaning. I'll buy a new mattress and a small generator and a few more bells and whistles and
be set up fairly nice I think.

haulin-rv

I have been out here hauling for 4 years, with several different trucks. With the old laws it was nice to be able to use sleeper berth time to split the days. But with the new HOS rules there really is not much benefit. Just log the 10 hours as off duty and you are fine. As long as you do not claim sleeper berth time they can not question you. I have used the back of a quad cab (98.5, 99, 06) an 06 crew duramax, and now my 07 mega cab as a bed for the last 4 years with no hassles as long as its logged off duty not sleeper berth.

RickG

That's very true . With a minimum of 8 hours sleeper time the only time a sleeper is worth the hassle is when running team . While putting bubbles in the windows will give the extra inches , I heard gutting the doors , blocking the windows up and removing the window lift mechanism will give the same result .

ccoop769

Bush made the law where it is now 10 hours of off duty instead of 8 back in 2005

gofastman

You wont do all this in a dodge, it is still not legal length of 75 inches.
You can do this in a ford and have 76.5 inches

ccoop769

I just need to grab a tape measure!!!!!!!!

jerry61

I've only been at it about 5 months and still learning and
about the tax thing for OTR I haven't delved into too much.

But I heard, fwiw, for the new rulings implemented by IRS, or our lawmakers,
that for something like 100+ miles away from home a driver can claim about
$60 a day per diem for lodging,,,about $30 a day for food, and also claim
a set amount?? for fuel, oil, maintenance, etc.

Doing the per diem approach is obviously suppose to make it easier than keeping up with all the paper work ie reciepts, etc.
As far as the $60 lodging claim I heard that a DOT legal sleeper has to be in place. A quadcab misses it by a few inches.
The same ones that told me all of this do not have legal sleepers but claim the $60 anyway. They sleep in their quad cabs with the plywood bunk.
All that is fwiw.

I, myself, think DOT sorta looks the other way most of the time on sleeping in a quadcab,,, but can use it to pile on if they want to.

I'm sure the real rules on sleeper births and the $60 are somewhere on the IRS website. Probably be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

gofastman

I dont know about the upcoming tax year, but last year i got 43. per day perdiem for each day i was not at home by my log book, that was for food and lodging, i dont know about the rest of what you said is true or not....i didnt get it last year so it maybe something they are doing this year

gofastman

here are some pics you all asked for.

gofastman

here are some more

haulin-rv

Per diem is a good thing. Its a great deduction. The per diem is for food and such. If you actually spend a night in a hotel you can claim that too as long as you have receipt.

Who made those pods?? What are you hauling?

BTW thats a pretty slick set-up!

gofastman

Call larry he has all the info. I love it
405-863-2002

jerry61

On my tax fwiw statements earlier,,

I just got off the phone with a coworker and he said that last year his CPA claimed 52$ a day for food "aaaand" lodging for him,,
and $0.44 per mile loaded and empty.

He drove about 200,000 miles last year and said he came out a better
filing that way.

I had it a little mixed up awhile ago.
It's been awhile and I'm getting old,, sniff.

And on my $300 sleeper buy, I just found out that it's like new and to get
it for that price I have to remove the sleeper from the truck that it's now
mounted on. That aint no hill for a old stepper like me

RickG

I know that . I said minimum 8 hours sleeper . That can be combined with 2 hours off duty to get the ten .