Gooseneck vs Bumper Pull

[North Idaho Wolfman]

While a wood deck requires a little more work to keep up, it's a much nicer deck to load and unload during foul weather.
Duals are nice but pricey to upkeep, it's a lot of tires.
Some manufactures make a trailer with a lowboy tire and axle that is cheaper to maintain and better weight rating (while being lighter) then small duals.

 

[fried1765]

While a wood deck requires a little more work to keep up, it's a much nicer deck to load and unload during foul weather.
Duals are nice but pricey to upkeep, it's a lot of tires.
Some manufactures make a trailer with a lowboy tire and axle that is cheaper to maintain and better weight rating (while being lighter) then small duals.

Minimal wood deck upkeep,...... if stored inside!

 

[WDF]

My wood looks terrible after only two years outside.
I did think about the CDL aspect, will need to check into that more. The truck + trailer capacity is well over 26,001.

Will measure between fenders and get an image.

 

[Dieseldonato]

Just a heads up, since I recently went through this. Any trailer over 10k lbs needs a class A cdl, and the truck needs licensed in combination and depending on what your foing you need dot numbers as well. Yes most the farmers are illegal, but most the cops won't say anything, or don't know all the dot laws. I recently purchased a 14k lbs dump trailer. Haul it behind my 96 f-250. The gross combination weight of the truck is 18.5k lbs, so I thought all was good. I got pulled over on my way to the dump, I have my class A cdl so I thought I was in the clear. Turns out I needed the proper combination weight for the truck to include the trailer. (This is all for personal use. Didn't want to buy a dumb truck so figured the trailer would be easier.) Anyway. I had to call my uncle to come get my trailer as I wasn't allowed to move it without the proper registration on the truck. The dot cop was nice enough to explain this all to me wile he wrote out my fine. The almost $600.00 registration fee was less then half the fine I got. Federal dot laws trump all state laws. Just so happens they are getting money hungry around my area and pulling everyone with a trailer over here lately.
This also includes the farmers. Friend of mine does custom harvesting. Never had his cdl, because he was farming. Turns out when he's hauling for another farmer for profit, you now fall into the commercial side of things and not the farming side of things, as it wasn't his "product".
You really need to check the laws before you decide to buy bigger. There's a lot that have changed recently amd non of the new laws benefit the common guy just trying to make a living.

 

[BigG]

Just a heads up, since I recently went through this. Any trailer over 10k lbs needs a class A cdl, and the truck needs licensed in combination and depending on what your foing you need dot numbers as well. Yes most the farmers are illegal, but most the cops won't say anything, or don't know all the dot laws. I recently purchased a 14k lbs dump trailer. Haul it behind my 96 f-250. The gross combination weight of the truck is 18.5k lbs, so I thought all was good. I got pulled over on my way to the dump, I have my class A cdl so I thought I was in the clear. Turns out I needed the proper combination weight for the truck to include the trailer. (This is all for personal use. Didn't want to buy a dumb truck so figured the trailer would be easier.) Anyway. I had to call my uncle to come get my trailer as I wasn't allowed to move it without the proper registration on the truck. The dot cop was nice enough to explain this all to me wile he wrote out my fine. The almost $600.00 registration fee was less then half the fine I got. Federal dot laws trump all state laws. Just so happens they are getting money hungry around my area and pulling everyone with a trailer over here lately.
This also includes the farmers. Friend of mine does custom harvesting. Never had his cdl, because he was farming. Turns out when he's hauling for another farmer for profit, you now fall into the commercial side of things and not the farming side of things, as it wasn't his "product".
You really need to check the laws before you decide to buy bigger. There's a lot that have changed recently amd non of the new laws benefit the common guy just trying to make a living.

You need to fight the ticket as it was issued incorrectly. I drive a GMC 3500 GVW of 11400, a Big Tex trailer with a GVW of 14,500. Total of 25,9000 pounds. No CDL and I have been DOTed several times without any problems. If the combined weight is less then 26,001 then the CDL is not required. You can look the rule/laws up in a book called, https://www.amazon.com/Federal-Carrier-Regulations-Pocketbook-Softbound/dp/B084HMKMHQ. I was inspected this week with no problems. In fact the DOT officer told me I did not need to display the DOT number.

The other things you wrote about are correct.

The 'little green book" that I spoke of earlier is often misread by the DOT cops. So if you have not payed the fine you need to fight it.

 

[Dieseldonato]

This is very much left up to the Individual officer on how they enforce it. It has been explained to me were good in combination with a class C up to 26k lbs, so long as the trailer is 10klbs or less. The issue arose as I have a 14k lb dump trailer. Now I don't know if it was right wrong or indifferent, I thought I was good having my cdl, but the truck wasn't registered in combination, and the dot cop said that was why I was getting sighted. This is "new" to me as I've never worried about a combination weight on a pickup so long as I was under 26k lbs. It all has something to do with the gross weight of the trailer. Lots of guys around the lebabon, lancaster area have got hit like this. Could be a local thing.

 

[jyoutz]

Just a heads up, since I recently went through this. Any trailer over 10k lbs needs a class A cdl, and the truck needs licensed in combination and depending on what your foing you need dot numbers as well. Yes most the farmers are illegal, but most the cops won't say anything, or don't know all the dot laws. I recently purchased a 14k lbs dump trailer. Haul it behind my 96 f-250. The gross combination weight of the truck is 18.5k lbs, so I thought all was good. I got pulled over on my way to the dump, I have my class A cdl so I thought I was in the clear. Turns out I needed the proper combination weight for the truck to include the trailer. (This is all for personal use. Didn't want to buy a dumb truck so figured the trailer would be easier.) Anyway. I had to call my uncle to come get my trailer as I wasn't allowed to move it without the proper registration on the truck. The dot cop was nice enough to explain this all to me wile he wrote out my fine. The almost $600.00 registration fee was less then half the fine I got. Federal dot laws trump all state laws. Just so happens they are getting money hungry around my area and pulling everyone with a trailer over here lately.
This also includes the farmers. Friend of mine does custom harvesting. Never had his cdl, because he was farming. Turns out when he's hauling for another farmer for profit, you now fall into the commercial side of things and not the farming side of things, as it wasn't his "product".
You really need to check the laws before you decide to buy bigger. There's a lot that have changed recently amd non of the new laws benefit the common guy just trying to make a living.

Where do you live? Seems like most farmers and ranchers around here would be violators but none are ever busted. What about the people hauling tri-axle fifth wheel RVs?

 

[Dieseldonato]

Where do you live? Seems like most farmers and ranchers around here would be violators but none are ever busted. What about the people hauling tri-axle fifth wheel RVs?

Lebanon, PA. It's been a mkre recent thing. I live very close to the lancaster line. Northwest regional hired a new dot cop. He's been busy.

 

[jyoutz]

Lebanon, PA. It's been a mkre recent thing. I live very close to the lancaster line. Northwest regional hired a new dot cop. He's been busy.

Makes me wonder about all the 40’ fifth wheels I see on the interstates. I sure doubt that these people have CDLs.

 

[Dieseldonato]

Makes me wonder about all the 40’ fifth wheels I see on the interstates. I sure doubt that these people have CDLs.

No idea, just letting everyone what I went through. I figured I was fine since it was for personal use.

 

[dirtydeed]

Ok. Here's my take in PA.

You need a CDL if:

1) the GVWR of tow vehicle is in excess of 26,000

2) GCWR (tow vehicle GVWR and trailer GVWR) is in excess of 26,000 AND the towed vehicle (meaning trailer) is in excess of 10,000 lbs. The operative word here is "AND". Important to note here that it's the combination of truck and trailer that trips people up.

example 1- F550 rated at 19,500 GVWR pulling a trailer rated at 7K GVWR is in excess of 26,000 but the trailer is not over 10K GVWR. No CDL required.

example 2- F350 rated at 14K GVWR pulling a 14K trailer. CDL required.

Keep in mind that you may also exceed the GCWR of the tow vehicle when pulling a gooseneck. It doesn't matter if the trailer is empty. That's the whole reason why they use Weight Rating, not actual weight.

So, pulling a gooseneck rated at say 15K can easily exceed the GCWR of many 3/4 ton pickups (typically rated at 10K GVWR, 24K GCWR). Loaded or not.

Additionally, DOT registration is typically only required for Interstate commerce/travel (not intrastate) and also depends on what you are hauling.

 

[dirtydeed]

It has been mentioned to me that you need a medical card (not the weed card) if towing anything in excess of 10K. I don't know how truthful that is since I've never seen that written in the Pendot rules.

 

[mcmxi]

Here's a good article about towing and the requirement for a CDL.

How Big Of A Trailer Can I Tow Without A CDL? - Four Wheel Trends

How big of a trailer can I tow without a CDL? In this article, we aim to answer how many pounds you can tow on your trailer without needing a Commercial

fourwheeltrends.com

I made a clearer version of the flow chart since it might be useful to some, me included. These are Federal regulations and as the article states, you need to check on state and/or local laws.

Edit: I made a change for clarity re the GVWR/GVW greater than 10,000 lb.

 

[mcmxi]

Ok. Here's my take in PA.

You need a CDL if:

1) the GVWR of tow vehicle is in excess of 26,000

2) GCWR (tow vehicle GVWR and trailer GVWR) is in excess of 26,000 AND the towed vehicle (meaning trailer) is in excess of 10,000 lbs. The operative word here is "AND". Important to note here that it's the combination of truck and trailer that trips people up.

example 1- F550 rated at 19,500 GVWR pulling a trailer rated at 7K GVWR is in excess of 26,000 but the trailer is not over 10K GVWR. No CDL required.

example 2- F350 rated at 14K GVWR pulling a 14K trailer. CDL required.

Keep in mind that you may also exceed the GCWR of the tow vehicle when pulling a gooseneck. It doesn't matter if the trailer is empty. That's the whole reason why they use Weight Rating, not actual weight.

So, pulling a gooseneck rated at say 15K can easily exceed the GCWR of many 3/4 ton pickups (typically rated at 10K GVWR, 24K GCWR). Loaded or not.

Additionally, DOT registration is typically only required for Interstate commerce/travel (not intrastate) and also depends on what you are hauling.

I like your examples. I need to run my F250, 22' equipment trailer and M6060 through the flow chart to make sure that I'm good to go.

 

[hedgerow]

In my state you either have commercial or farm plates on your pickup. If you are not a farmer and have commercial plates on your pickup and you hook a trailer with eight bolt hubs on it you better have your ducks in a row. My state has become real AG friendly you don't need a CDL for AG stuff. I still have my full blown CDL but have have put my medical card on hold as I didn't need to spend hundred dollars every year or two. I only do AG stuff now days and never cross state lines with a semi.

 

[Daferris]

The 102" wide limit makes me pause for thought on this.... I have a 16' Wolverine Aluminum car hauler trailer (7k GVW) that I bought for the race car and to haul my tractor with. Thing that I never gave a thought about is it measures 108" across the outside of the fenders. Now the Semi's I drove back in the '80 & early 90's were limited to 102" period. ( Never did measure the mirrors to see if they were more than 102" but I would assume they had to be a couple of inches on each side wider to see past the trailer...
The specs on the web page say 102" but the tape measure does not lie.... I know this because the storage spot under the 2nd floor of the barn is 109" between the poles. Yes its a very tight fit but it gets it out of the way and keeps it indoors.

5D Series Aluminum Utility Trailers – Wolverine Trailers

 

[GreensvilleJay]

In Ontario the max width IS 102.362" = 2.6 meters, according to the HTA, Wider you NEED permits and ? excorts.

Since trucking is kinda 'universal', I'm wondering HOW those 108" wide trailers got plated. It's NOT deck width but the OVERALL width that is the law.

There was an episode of 'Highway thru Hell, where Davis got a new heavy wrecker. Max length was (say) 53', it was 54', at the factory. Deal killer. Then they adjusted(rotated) the 'hoist at the back' and magically JUST at the 53' mark on the tape.