Re: How do you move an overlength race trailer in California ?

John Myrick November 12th 2011, 9:47 pm

BigDave65 wrote:NC DOT officers will take a wild hair every once and a while and start pulling over duallys pulling enclosed racecar trailers, nothing big or oversize. I was able to attend a meeting with a SC DOT officer concerning this. He pretty much said we had three options to be legal.

1. Make sure you fall under the hobby exemption, which most of us do.

2. Get your Federal ID numbers and all the things required just like a big truck does to be legal.

3. If you're stopped play dumb, say yes sir, no sir and act like you don't have a clue. You'll probably get a ticket that will be recinded when you comply with the infractions.

He suggested in any situation to have your stuff right. Have your fuel in approved containers, have safety equipment like fire ex., reflector triangles, make sure all your lights and brakes work properly

Around here "Not for Hire" decals are a waste of money. His exact words were "Wal-Mart trucks are not for hire either." As for motorhomes and RV's, he said that when you hooked up the trailer to go to the race you are no longer an RV, you are considered Interstate Commerce, subject to all laws same as big trucks. The sign at the scalehouse says "All Trucks" Not just big trucks.

My buddy got $800 in tickets pulling a 24' enclosed behind a dually after being stopped on I-77 north of Charlotte, NC by a DMV officer!
This has become a big issue around here.

Do the SRW 1 tone trucks have to comply like the duallys ?

schmitty November 13th 2011, 12:47 am

Curt wrote:
schmitty wrote:As a minimum, it must have a window that opens on both sides, a side access door, and then there is a list of several other items of which three must be met. A sink, or shower, a potty, beds, fridge, or other items that make a camper a camper.

I guess our laws are different than yours.

These requirements are from the Feds and are the same ones used all over the USA. Brother did some serious research when he built this trailer, and even had a couple of DOT officers come and inspect it and give input on what to do and how to go about it. Cool

BigDave65 November 13th 2011, 1:21 am

John, I would say yes. I just said duallies because thats mostly what you see pulling an enclosed. I pulled my 26' enclosed with a 3/4 ton srw for years. There are a lot of 1/2 ton trucks pulling them nowdays as well.

crittersf1 November 13th 2011, 9:15 am

N.C. getting real stupid about weighted plates. You can pull a 25' boat with a Ranger, but you can't pull a race-car with an F-250 without weighted plates

schmitty November 13th 2011, 11:05 am

These are basically the guidelines when hooking up to a trailer. GVW is the weight rating the manufacturer gives to a power unit or trailer. You add up the GVW of the truck and trailer and buy plates accordingly. Not sure how it works in other states, but here it is only about another $50 to go from 3T plates to 13T plates. If you go over 13T or 26,000# combined weight you will need a DOT# and a CDL. If you cross state lines, or travel farther than 100 miles from home you will need a log book. This weight is found by adding up the GVW of the power unit and trailer. If you have non commercial plates, you don't have to have the DOT#. Most 3/4T pickups are around 9,000# GVW and a trailer with tandem 5,000# axles and a 10,000# GVW will give you a combined GVW of 19,000#, so no CDL needed and the DOT cops can't hassle you much. If you have a 1T dually, with a GVW of 13,500# and a tandem trailer with 7,000# axles you now have a combined GVW of 27,500# GVW and then the DOT cops will start asking questions. The way out of this is if the trailer is a "camper" then all of the rules change. With a "camper", then if your GVW is over the 26,000# all you need is a valid CDL, and follow all of the safety rules. Cool

95lightiningguy November 16th 2011, 12:14 am

Hmm, in reading my FMCSA reference book I will be damned if I can find anything that says anything more than a 53' trailer is legal. The teams know the laws as well as everyone else. There are different regulations for the type of trailer but 53' is maximum. Maybe they think they can convince them its a flatbed where you can hang over the front 2' and rear 1'. Really doesn't matter if they are participating in interstate commerce or not, those trucks carry more than 26,000#, are a combination vehicle, have air brakes, and as such fall under FMCSA requirements under the law, not saying California was right or wrong in the way they conducted business, just saying the race teams are definitely in the wrong under the law.

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