Certifications are made to insure that ratings are consistent with appropriate standards. Some guy with a welder simply is not qualified to make that call.
..And you know this, 'cause you know the welder who did his modifications, right? And you know this welder's qualifications also, right? :)
For all we know, the OP may have had this done by a professional welding company certified for all kinds of work, and very well qualified to make the call.
First, local "law enforcement" normally are not the folks involved in any inspection. That is normally left up to an enforcement division who actually are trained to evaluate safe loads and actually have the resources to weigh units. Secondly, as I have pointed out here over and over, the Federal Weight Certification label REQUIRED by law is the place where the information is gathered by the DMV. That label includes maximum towed weight capacities.
Correct, inspections are done by an appropriate enforcement division, not run of the mill law enforcement.
How many times have you, or anyone you know of, ever been stopped by this 'enforcement division', and had to submit to an inspection this thorough of your RV, where they weighed it and verified weights against weight certification labels?
How many times have you had to submit to such an inspection when registering your RV with DMV?
How many times has ANY RV owner EVER had to submit to such an inspection, except as part of an accident investigation after a bad accident?
Right, never. Doesn't happen for non-commercial vehicles, ever.
Only time such an inspection might take place (for non-commercial vehicles) is as part of an investigation after a serious accident where someone is seriously hurt or worse. Yes, it is a risk that if such happens, an inspection revealing you were over some limits could be a problem. However, all things considered, I think that is a pretty small risk with many ways to easily mitigate it (driving cautiously, have a good insurance policy, etc). Nowhere near as huge a risk as some 'weight police' folks try to make it out to be.
I only mentioned 'law enforcement', as they are the ones that make the routine stops that one is much, much more likely to be involved in. And, like I said, those guys really do not give a rat's posterior end what some certification label says, and how close you are to it.
I think, lblhigh, your experience in professional trucking may be clouding your thoughts a little bit. We're not talking about commercial trucks, we're talking about privately owned RVs. Huge difference.
...if you can't pay, then don't play. Sorry, but those are just the facts.
...Its easy to sit on a high horse and 'preach' self-righteous absolutes like this, when you can afford to drop six figures on a massive DP Motorhome.
If you could not (or chose not to) own such an expensive rig that could tow 20,000 lbs from the factory....I'm betting your outlook/opinion on this would be drastically different.
It is interesting to note the rig in the signatures of nearly ALL the 'weight police' type that have posted on this thread. ;)
Will
