gvw / trailer / d.o.t #'s question's

[sweetk30]

got a friend who just got a e-450 ford van with 14k gvw.

getting 7700gvw 24ft camper to pull behind.

will have 2000-2500 lbs max in the back of the box van total from empty .

he needs to know leagel gvw stuff. like if he will be over gvw or have to stop in dot checks . he has plans this spring to go from upstate ny to atlanta ga for 50th anv race for formula v racing . he will be taking his race car down and camper .

its 100% not for hire . all proporty owned by him .

any help ould be super . and please keep info to gvw for dummbies please as i dont get it and him also so we need to learn just a little bit.

 

[ktmoutfront]

Interstate DOT state that he does not need CDL or scale or anything special. But only on the interstates. Once he get off a defined interstate, the local state laws aply.and even local city. They can very a lot. Local enforcement officers would be the big issue. They do not always interpret the DOT stuff correctly.

99.9% of CDL holders will tell you you can't drive anything over 26k you need CDL. Federal DOT states over 26,000lbs AND for commerce. That and is the important word.

I am running a 80k GVWR freightliner. Two cars on it and a 40 foot 5th wheel behind it. I have stopped at one scale house in each state. They have all asked why I stopped.

What he needs to be carefully of is, if he has sponsors on the rig, it can be considered for commerce. Gray area there. I had a friend who decided just to do the commercial route because it became a hassle.

He really needs to get with his home state CMV department and find out what they say. I was in California for the King of the Hammers race. When I stopped in 29 palms for food on the way home. A Highway Patrol officer pulled in behind me. Asked if I was really from Colorado? Yep. Turns out, California has an RV license if you are running over 20k. But I was OK because I was just visiting.

 

[sweetk30]

yep no stickers on box van except not for hire.

he has done some asking of other racers and thay say to print out dot form showing its race car hauler and not for buissness and all his proporty so he be good .

but he was realy getting crazy on gvw stuff as i was .

if i understand it dont get over total and per axle weight . then trailer / camper same rules apply . is this correct ?

 

[ktmoutfront]

Yep. The axles and the hitch. DOT also says any bumper pull over xxxxxx lbs needs a wiehgt distribution hitch. Don't know the number off of the top of my head.

No CDL or inspections needed to drive this. Still blows my mind. 47,600lbs and 71 feet long.

 

[miniwally]

There are honestly some really goofy laws that change everytime you change states.

My experience shows that you need to do like your talking, pay attention to axle weights, individual vehicle weights and then GCVW. Keep a low profile and make sure the sponsor stickers stay off the tow rig. I have yet to be hassled for towing the race car into california but I could be because it's sponsored, however I'm not the "driver of record" for the events now so that takes a bit of the wind out of the sails. I am simply towing my vehicle to an event where someone else drives it.

When we went to KOH this year My truck with trailer hitched to it grossed at 10,500+ which is 1,300 over weight for an extended cab short bed, but my trailer only had 7,660 on it's tires. I have a 9,900 lb GVW trailer, so I had room left for the trailer GVW and on my GCVW, BUT I was way over my trucks GVW.

I know it sounds like greek but just sit back and look at as seperate vehicles at first. Each one can weigh X amount legally. Then when you combine them the tow vehicle has a tow rating and the amount it weighs will go up due to tongue weight, but the trailer weight will go down by that same amount.