1 ton Dually Pickup Owners Question

was his chains on the horse trailer hooked up?
Was he overloaded?
Does he own a cattle ranch?
Is his truck registered as a farm truck?
lots in play at how laws read

I've pulled our 5th wheel with our 350 dually through 38 states and Canada and have never stopped at a weight station or been stopped by any law officer. Our GCW was 25,000. Don't espect any problems with our new rig at 28,000.

OP would do himself a service by looking at the regulations in his own state. If he's legal there with his DL he'll be good in any state he travels. Only caution is if planning on towing doubles, as these laws apply to both in and out of state towing. Not all states allow double towing and legnth restrictions in those that do apply.

D and A plus 6 wrote:
I am thinking about upgrading from a f250 to a f350 Dually. I was told it was a federal law that they are treat like a road tractor/semi, and must keep log book, CDL, med card, dot number on side of truck et. My friend was pulling a 5th wheel livestock trailer, got pulled over in a neighboring state and received several tickets because he didn't have any of this.
I've seen several duallies pulling travel trailers and dont see dot numbers on the side of their trucks, What the difference or what do you do not to get bothered?

Thanks for any info?

Your state will have rules for what is considered suitable to haul under a Class C license. For example here in California, if your combined gross vehicle weight CGVW is over 26,000 lbs, then you need a non-commercial Class A license. You do not need to keep logbooks, take medical tests, or go to weigh stations afaik. You DO need to take a written and driving test to obtain that license.

In my case my F450 is a 14k lb GVW vehicle. So I had to pay extra for registration since the People's Republic of Kalifornia charges you extra for vehicles above 10k GVW.

If I hitch it up to a Grand Design Momentum 328m which has a GVW of 16,500 lbs, then my CGVW will be 30,500 lbs which clearly puts me above the weight limit.

So in my case, I am going to take lessons and then take the test for the non-commercial Class A license.

I've seen the "NOT FOR HIRE" printed on the doors of Semis towing large 5th wheels and such that were just private citizens towing their private RV with a very large truck..

But, I didn't really "clue in" on the "livestock" trailer part of your original post, but if it's a private farmer moving HIS livestock, you still should not have to have a full on CDL...

Now, if it was hauling for any kind of PAYMENT, as in salary, then that could be considered COMMERCIAL??

Dunno really.. What ended up happening to your friend? Did he have to pay a fine and now get a CDL to do what he was doing?

Mitch

I'd say with 99.999999 percent certainty it is NOT a federal law if you are NOT towing comerically. Now, if the person was towing a livestock trailer for business use, or as a business another story. Note that you will see a fair number of converted semi's on the road that say something like private hauler non comercial or NOT for hire, or something similar so they don't get hasseled going by a way station.

All he told me was the patrolman went back to his car and printed off the law and rules on severals sheets of paper and gave him a copy and it been in effect for several years. This one state seems to be real strict on truck rules.

If that's the case, there are A LOT of folks out there breaking the law!

It sounds like you are thinking of COMMERCIAL HAULERS.. Then, yes, commercial haulers are subject to those regulations..

If you are hauling your own personal stuff, you can and should be able to drive a full size Semi truck to tow your 5th wheel... You might still be limited to GCWR of #26,000 for the combo, but that's where it gets 'fuzzy'...

Good luck.

Mitch

never heard of this being a law.

chevman