Re: 20,000 gvw trailer do you need CDL

Posted by ScottyHOMEy on February 13, 2009 at 07:12:56 from (71.241.192.17):

In Reply to: 20,000 gvw trailer do you need CDL posted by ducks1 on February 13, 2009 at 05:57:58:

With some exceptions in some states (farm use with restrictions on distance and nature of cargo would be one), the basic weight break for a CDL is 26,000. There's some nuances to that for straight jobs and trailers.

Your ratings, not your load, will determine the rate factor. A pickup like mine (Long-cab, long-bed Ram, with a Cummins, rated for 9900#) can pull a trailer rated for 14,000 (gooseneck, two 7k single-wheel axles) without a CDL. Total weight rating 23,900. If the trailer has two 10k dually axles, the sum of the two ratings would be 29,900 and require a CDL even running empty. So if the combined GVWRs (different from the Gross Combined Weight Rating of the pickup) of the truck and trailer is under 26k, you're okay for a license, but you still need to be careful not to exceed the rated limit of any axle on either, and not to exceed total GVWR on the truck. (Unlike a trailer, the sum of the individual axle ratings on a pickup is usually significantly more that the GVWR -- both axles could be within their rated capacity, but thei total could exceed the truck's over all rating.)

But then there's the matter of a DOT number (maybe that's what you're thinking of), which is required for commercial operation in excess of only 10,000#, which is a whole other can of worms and gets into things like drug-testing, logbooks and commercial minimum insurance. There are exception to this, too, but they're narrow (like hauling horses but, oddly enough, not other livestock).

Now I have always argued that there's nothing commercial about taking a tractor to a tractor show or hauling a tractor home as a favor for a friend or relative who just bought one, so that, in the absence of a commercial use, one need not have the DOT number. But the fellow with the mirrored sunglasses and the citation book will see it differently. At the least he will hit you with a costly ticket or three (no DOT#, no log book, inadequate insurance for commercial operation . . .). At worst, he'll red-tag your rig. Non-compliance is a civil, not a criminal offense, so innocent-until-proven-guilty doesn't apply. He doesn't have to prove you were operating commercially. You have to hire a lawyer and go to court to prove that you weren't. That's a pain in the neck and costly at the least, whether you win or lose with the judge, but of very little help if you get red-tagged, in which case you've got to find somebody with a DOT# to come pick up your trailer top finish the trip. Worst scenario for getting red-tagged is without a trailer -- a dually rated for over 10k and something that Ossifer Friendly deems to be commercial cargo in the bed. If he red tags you for that, you'll have to have yourself towed to get home.

I say it ain't right, I can argue it here, I can take my chances and argue it in court if one of them plays that game with me, but guaranteed neither you nor I will win my argument on the side of the road. DOT enforcement is as much as, if not more so, a matter of revenue gneration from fines than a matter of highway safety.

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