Posted by NCWayne on December 31, 2014 at 14:36:19 from (173.188.169.54):
In Reply to: OT-CDL posted by mxjeff on December 31, 2014 at 09:40:10:
Every time this question comes up, there are a million different answers. Unfortunately most of them are wrong, and will result in you getting a ticket is your ever pulled over. Believe me, since I first started researching this mess back in the late 90's before buying my current service truck, I was so confused I didn't know what to do. After hours on the phone with guys at the weight stations, I finally reached "the horses mouth". He was the local DOT safety officer and the only one out of them all that would give me his name and direct line. He ended our conversation by telling me that if I ever had any trouble with any officers over what he told me, to call him and he'd set them straight as he was 'the horses mouth' and the one that told them what the law actually said, not just what they thought it meant. I've been stopped and weighed more than my share of times, had several, random, roadside stops for inspections, etc, and other than overweight tickets for my rear axel (something I know can happen if I'm stopped on the interstate), I have never had a problem with anything I've done because I'm within the regs on everything else.
In my case I've got a truck with a 26,000 GVW (de-rated down from 33,000 by a MFG sticker), but it weights 32,000 fully loaded. I keep it tagged for 38,000 and I often tow a trailer with a GVW of 10,000 lbs. Where I run into trouble is I typically have a touch over 20,000 on my rear axel. Even then this is OK on a back road, anything over 20,000 on each axel is considered overweight on the interstate.
Like I said, I've gone through this whole mess myself so I know where you are right now. Too watched an ex-buddy go through it on the far wrong side of things, and because he was too stupid to listen to me his wallet definitely for it. I've also seen several of my customers have to deal with some of the same issues and they eventually discovered the same things I did, and it usually cost them to do it.
Now there may be minor differences based on the state you live in, but in general this is what is required at the Federal level, and what we have to do here in NC.
That said, the GCVW doesn't matter one bit as far as a CDL is concerned. In other words you can have a truck with a GVW of 26,000 lbs (no CDL required), and pull a trailer with a GVW of 10,000 lbs (no CDL required), for a combined weight of 36,000 lbs, and still be perfectly legal. I do it all the time, and have never gotten a ticket because it's legal to so. As long as your tag covers the full weight of both the truck and the trailer/load, the combined weight means nothing beyond that.
Now if you take the same truck your driving with a class B CDL and put a trailer behind it with a GVW of 10,001 lbs or more, then you will have to upgrade to a class A to stay legal.
Now, if the GVW of the truck is over 10,000, and your planning to go out of your home state, then you've got to have a health card, regardless of whether you have a CDL or not. If you stay within your on state, then no health card is required.
If you've got a class B CDL, you can drive a single vehicle with a GVW of 26,0001 Lbs or more. That vehicle can also tow a trailer with a GVW of 10,000 lbs or less without any changes to the CDL.
Now when the GVW of the trailer goes to 10,001 lbs and over, you are required to have a class A CDL, regardless of what your towing it with.
In other words if you are towing a 14,000 GVW trailer with your dually, then you are required to have a class A CDL. In a case like this, the CDL will then have a Class8 restriction on it. This means that your A CDL covers only a pickup, or small truck, with the trailer, but doesn't cover you to drive a tractor trailer. On the other hand if you have an unrestricted class A CDL, then it will cover anything from a tractor trailer on down to the pickup with a trailer over 10,000 GVW.
If you have any more questions feel free to email me. If it's not something I already know about after nearly 15 years of dealing with this mess, then it will be something I really need to find out so it doesn't eventually bite me too.
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