1 ton dually or Medium Duty for large 5er?
We're looking at large 5ers and these things are HEAVY. I know a 1 ton dually diesel will get them moving down the road and that's not what I'm worried about. I'm worried about getting the rig stopp...
Forum Discussion
To avoid the commercial truck insurance that is required on any class 3/4/5/6/7/8 cab/chassis truck that did not leave the original manufacturer with a sheetmetal pickup bed designed and installed on the truck, you must re-purpose the truck/tractor from commercial status and officially register it as an RV (in CA and AZ at least, other states may vary, but are likely similar). As long as it is registered as a commercial truck, it MUST carry the commercial insurance, regardless of how the truck is actually used (personal or recreational use).
In order to register the commercial truck/tractor, re-purposed as an RV, it must have a permanently frame mounted RV living body of some kind, with cooking and bathroom provisions. A removable slide-on RV truck camper in/on the bed of the truck does not qualify, I found out upon investigation with the CA DMV.
A class 7/8 over the road tractor with a sleeper can be modified easily enough with a microwave or oven and toilet or porta-potty, and marked 'Not for Hire' on the side of the truck, to qualify for RV registration and insurance status. Many folks do this and pull big fifth wheel RV trailers.
This is not so easy to do with a smaller class 3/4/5/6 LTL (local use) cab/chassis truck with a day cab and short frame. It could be done, with some creative modification, provided one starts with a truck that has a long enough frame and high enough GVWR to account for the added sleeper/RV body space and weight, plus space for the hitch and hitch weight of the trailer. This means a truck with a 7' to 10' cab-to-axle frame length, rather than the more typical 5' c/a length of many class 3/4/5 trucks, especially those with crew cabs, since not many are made with a crew cab and longer than 5' c/a frame length.
In either of these scenarios, the truck/tractor can ONLY be use to pull a recreational-use, personal/recreational-registered trailer, to qualify for the RV registration and insurance on the truck. The moment you hook up to a commercial-use or commercial-registered trailer, the truck is no longer being used as an RV and is in violation, due to no commercial registration, for which a ticket can be written. I found this out when I inquired of the CA DMV. The AZ MVD/ADOT appears to have similar requirements as CA, from reading their information.
In order to register the commercial truck/tractor, re-purposed as an RV, it must have a permanently frame mounted RV living body of some kind, with cooking and bathroom provisions. A removable slide-on RV truck camper in/on the bed of the truck does not qualify, I found out upon investigation with the CA DMV.
A class 7/8 over the road tractor with a sleeper can be modified easily enough with a microwave or oven and toilet or porta-potty, and marked 'Not for Hire' on the side of the truck, to qualify for RV registration and insurance status. Many folks do this and pull big fifth wheel RV trailers.
This is not so easy to do with a smaller class 3/4/5/6 LTL (local use) cab/chassis truck with a day cab and short frame. It could be done, with some creative modification, provided one starts with a truck that has a long enough frame and high enough GVWR to account for the added sleeper/RV body space and weight, plus space for the hitch and hitch weight of the trailer. This means a truck with a 7' to 10' cab-to-axle frame length, rather than the more typical 5' c/a length of many class 3/4/5 trucks, especially those with crew cabs, since not many are made with a crew cab and longer than 5' c/a frame length.
In either of these scenarios, the truck/tractor can ONLY be use to pull a recreational-use, personal/recreational-registered trailer, to qualify for the RV registration and insurance on the truck. The moment you hook up to a commercial-use or commercial-registered trailer, the truck is no longer being used as an RV and is in violation, due to no commercial registration, for which a ticket can be written. I found this out when I inquired of the CA DMV. The AZ MVD/ADOT appears to have similar requirements as CA, from reading their information.
