Survey - who has had a citation for RV overweight?

So, just so I understand. There is no penalty,except for a few more registration dollars, to exceed the weight limit on a personal vehicle? On my cross country trip from Massachusetts to New Mexico I saw a number of F150 trucks hauling fifth wheel trailers that appeared seriously overloaded. Drove right by police and weigh stations. One F150 was towing a 5r and and enclosed trailer behind the 5!

Rbertalotto wrote:
So, just so I understand. There is no penalty,except for a few more registration dollars, to exceed the weight limit on a personal vehicle? On my cross country trip from Massachusetts to New Mexico I saw a number of F150 trucks hauling fifth wheel trailers that appeared seriously overloaded. Drove right by police and weigh stations. One F150 was towing a 5r and and enclosed trailer behind the 5!

You understand correctly. Warranty by the manufacturer (if for instance you should break the axle when you hit a bump) is another issue (but now that is way off topic).

A friend at work said he has a friend who knows someone who got a ticket. So there.

Next topic "When were you last abducted by aliens?" Were you subject to body cavity search? No details, no pics, please.

nickthehunter wrote:
There is no way anyone ever received a ticket for being overweight. The only law regarding weight is you can not exceed 20,000 lbs per axle or 80,000 lbs gross weight. Anyone have an RV approaching either of those numbers? There is in some jurisdiction a "registration" weight. In those areas the more weight you want to tow, the higher your vehicle license plate fees. So if you want to tow more, you pay more. There is no limit to how much your can "registration" weight can be. If you didn't pay the proper vehicle license plate fee, you could be ticketed for exceeding your "registered" weight.

The laws regarding weight only apply to COMMERCIAL vehicles in 99% of the states. Many states don't even weigh buses. Some states do weigh Rental vehicles..why? no one with any sense knows.

So these laws only apply to vehicles that have an ICC registration number and weigh 26001 LBS or more.

If you are in an RV you are not subject to these federal and state weight laws.

Wadcutter wrote:
Spring time. Another 'overweight question".
Do you really think your rig or any rig is even close to approaching the max weight limits? Seriously?
As nickthehunter pointed out max axle weights are usually 20,000 lbs for a single axle, 34,000 for a tandem axle and 80,000 gross (total) weight.
When talking those 'big' numbers people's eyes glaze over and they don't have any concept of what they mean.
Let's put it in perspective looking at a 5th wheel. Your truck weights 8000 or a bit less. You have a heavy 5th wheel that weighs 15,000 lbs loaded. Total weight then is 23,000 lbs.
Now lets look at the semis running down the road. Look at one that has one of the 53 ft box trailers. The tractor unit is a long nose double sleeper, long wheelbase rig. Empty that combination will weigh about 23,000 lbs, maybe a bit less.
Look at the those numbers again. That empty semi weighs the same as if you had a heavy pickup and a fully loaded 5er.
When people truly understand weight laws then they would see just how silly these questions really are. They think because they have a 'big' camper that somehow they're in the big boy's league of hauling weight. Not even close. Think about it. Your truck and camper have tires which may be the same load handling capacity as what's on your car or maybe just a bit more. If your rig was over 20,000 axle (10,000 per tire) do you think your tires wouldn't give out long before you maxed 20,000?
And yeah, I was the weight police. The real weight police. I didn't get my knowledge from listening to some fat guy sitting around the campfire. For 27 years I weighed a lot of trucks, taught truck weight laws, was recognized by the courts as an expert in truck weight laws, and commanded the highest fine generating scales in the state of IL.

Very well put.
I was on the other side of the counter. I drove up to 120,000 lbs for 17 years, and I made it my job to know more about the weight limits than most of the people on your side of the desk. I am not saying I was an expert, but I would often show enforcement officers the correct lines to look at in the bridge weight limit guides. Most were only interested in making sure the paperwork was in order.

I stay away from almost all "weight police" threads. Most of them really don't make any sense.

Wadcutter wrote:
Spring time. Another 'overweight question".
Do you really think your rig or any rig is even close to approaching the max weight limits? Seriously?
As nickthehunter pointed out max axle weights are usually 20,000 lbs for a single axle, 34,000 for a tandem axle and 80,000 gross (total) weight.
When talking those 'big' numbers people's eyes glaze over and they don't have any concept of what they mean.
Let's put it in perspective looking at a 5th wheel. Your truck weights 8000 or a bit less. You have a heavy 5th wheel that weighs 15,000 lbs loaded. Total weight then is 23,000 lbs.
Now lets look at the semis running down the road. Look at one that has one of the 53 ft box trailers. The tractor unit is a long nose double sleeper, long wheelbase rig. Empty that combination will weigh about 23,000 lbs, maybe a bit less.
Look at the those numbers again. That empty semi weighs the same as if you had a heavy pickup and a fully loaded 5er.
When people truly understand weight laws then they would see just how silly these questions really are. They think because they have a 'big' camper that somehow they're in the big boy's league of hauling weight. Not even close. Think about it. Your truck and camper have tires which may be the same load handling capacity as what's on your car or maybe just a bit more. If your rig was over 20,000 axle (10,000 per tire) do you think your tires wouldn't give out long before you maxed 20,000?
And yeah, I was the weight police. The real weight police. I didn't get my knowledge from listening to some fat guy sitting around the campfire. For 27 years I weighed a lot of trucks, taught truck weight laws, was recognized by the courts as an expert in truck weight laws, and commanded the highest fine generating scales in the state of IL.

That empty semi you're talking about is a very light one. Our Kenworth weights 33,000 lbs empty without a trailer.

DownTheAvenue wrote:
A friend at work said he has a friend who knows someone who got a ticket. So there.

That's enough proof for me. :B

The only one I've seen was down in NC leaving ZMAX dragway and wasn't the normal trailer/fifth wheel. I was following a friend pulling a 30Ft racecar trailer with living quarters and he was pulled over and weighed. He was over his registered GVWR and received a fined which was $150 I think. They told him he was considered commercial because he received money and or products for competing. He also had the usual product stickers all over the side of the trailer.

Ah the internet - America's number one source for adding unwarranted worry.