California Non-Commercial Class A License

[jyh818]

I am not sure if this topic was covered in the past so forgive me if I'm asking again.

I understand that to tow heavy for recreational vehicles up to combined weight of 26K lbs. in CA, you will need to get a non-commercial class A license.

The question I have is that 26K lbs. Is that the combined GVWR of the truck AND the GVWR of the 5th wheel?

Example: I have a 2006 F350 dually 2WD crew cab, long bed with 4.30 gear diesel. GCVWR is 26K lbs. Truck loaded with people and gear (no 5th wheel hooked up) is 7,500 lbs. GVWR of the truck is 13k lbs. If I get a 5th wheel with a GVWR of 16K lbs., even if I fully loaded the 5th wheel, my combined would be 23.5K lbs., under the 26K lbs. combined.

Is it still legal? If you take the GVWR of both truck and 5th wheel, it will be over 26K lbs. (13K truck + 16K 5th wheel) at 29K lbs.?

I'm not sure if the 26K from a legal standpoint is the addition of the weight ratings or what you really have.

Thanks.

[jyh818]

toedtoes wrote:
You can't have a 13k truck and a 16k 5er because the combined is 29k (over 26k).

You can have a 10k truck and a 16k 5er because the combined is 26k.

Correct. The truck is under 10K, even though the GVWR of the truck is 13K.

[toedtoes]

You can't have a 13k truck and a 16k 5er because the combined is 29k (over 26k).

You can have a 10k truck and a 16k 5er because the combined is 26k.

[jyh818]

So basically from what I'm reading, with a non-commercial class A license, I could tow a 16K lbs. GVWR 5th wheel as long as:

a) My truck weighs over 4K lbs. unladen and
b) Total weight (truck and 5th wheel) combined does not exceed 26K lbs.

It doesn't matter if the truck's GVWR is 13K and 5th wheel GVWR is 16K as long as both combined weight does not exceed 26K lbs. and the 5th wheel weight does not exceed 16K.

[toedtoes]

Per the DMV:

A Noncommercial Class A DL is required if you tow:
•A travel trailer weighing over 10,000 lbs. Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) which is not used for hire.
•A fifth-wheel travel trailer weighting over 15,000 lbs. GVWR which is not used for hire.
•A livestock trailer that is not for hire, weight over 10,000 lbs. GVWR but not over 15,000 lbs. GVWR, and is operated within 150 miles of the farm by a farmer to transport livestock.

Here is a chart explaining what you can drive and tow with each license class.

Basically, if the fifth wheel is under 10,000, you can tow it with a basic non-commercial Class C. If the fifth wheel is between 10,000 and 15,000, you can tow it with a basic non-commercial Class C WITH an endorsement. If the fifth wheel is over 15,000, you can tow it with a non-commercial Class A.

[2edgesword]

The wording on the CA DMV website leads me to believe it's the actual weight of the 5th wheel not the GVWR...

"fifth-wheel travel trailers WEIGHING OVER 15,000 POUNDS, not used for hire."

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/pubs/cdl_htm/lic_chart

It says nothing (at least on this webpage) about the combined weight of the truck and trailer.

[Njmurvin]

**** Oops. My bad ***** I misread the original post. I thought your 5th wheel had a GVWR of 13k lbs. My response below does NOT apply to 5th wheels over 15K. I'm leaving the response in for those confused (like I was) about CA license requirements for 5th wheels.

I don't believe you will need the Non-Commercial class A license. Here is an excerpt from the DMV website.

"A driver must have a fifth-wheel recreational trailer endorsement added to his/her Class C driver license to pull a fifth-wheel recreational trailer over 10,000 lbs., but not over 15,000 lbs. GVWR, which is not used for hire. This endorsement is not required if the driver has a commercial or noncommercial Class A driver license."

The endorsement for your class C license is actually called Restriction 41 which allows you to tow a 5th wheel trailer with GVWR between 10,000 and 15,000 lbs.

Your biggest challenge may be finding a DMV that understands the process to give you a Restriction 41 endorsement. I had to go through 2 clerks and finally a manager before they got it straight. For me it was a written test only. You may have to take the regular class C test again depending on when you last renewed your license.