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5-tons & Weigh Stations

Stalwart

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I know in California, if you have a std. pickup box you don't have to stop. If you drive an F350 with a non pickup box (say a custom) and pulling a 10,001 lb trailer you are supposed to stop. If say, you were using an F450 with the std. pickup box and towing a 20,000 lb trailer for non-commercial purposes you don't have to stop. Kinda strange, but that's the way it is. :roll:
 

waayfast

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Many miles crewing Untouchable and Ace of Spades statesside and we have never pulled in, Of all the stations we've passed only once did a vehicle come out and look like it was coming after us, but it turned around and went back before ever reaching our truck. Driver
Hee, hee--maybe when they got close, they got to thinkin' they were out-gunned!rofl
 

91W350

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Just a though if the weight station says all TRUCKS, do you stop in your pickup? They have a truck license plate why not stop in them ?
Pulling a trailer in Nebraska, you better stop with your pickup or they may run you down, they did me. When they found out it was camping gear, they let me go with a warning citation. Their signs also read pickups with trailers must stop. Glen
 

Truckoholic

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I know in California, if you have a std. pickup box you don't have to stop. If you drive an F350 with a non pickup box (say a custom) and pulling a 10,001 lb trailer you are supposed to stop. If say, you were using an F450 with the std. pickup box and towing a 20,000 lb trailer for non-commercial purposes you don't have to stop. Kinda strange, but that's the way it is. :roll:


Exactly, which is why, when I bought a Peterbilt 379 for personal fun, I put a regular pickup bed on it, so it was classified as a pickup under California law, and therefore I did not ever have to stop at weigh stations in California. Because the law does not care how much the "Pickup" is hauling, just that it is a pickup, and therefore does not have to stop at the scales. But if it has a utility bed, or flat bed on it, and you use it as part of a business, or you haul stuff with it, you darn well better have it registered for the ammount of weight you are using it to haul, and you darn well better stop at the weigh stations. It's very interesting.

So same thing with any military truck you have in California. If it is not a "Pickup" by California definition, you better either have it registered as a historical vehicle, and never haul anything with it, or register it as commercial for the weight you intend to gross out at, and have to put the ugly weight stickers on the sides, and you have to get a Motor Carrier of Property permit for private use even if you don't use it commercially, and have to put your CA number on the sides of the truck. It's all a big hassle. I allready have all of that in place with my other trucks, so it would be no big deal for me to ad a military truck on if I choose to use it to haul stuff. But I would rather just register it as a historical vehicle and drive it for fun. But........It brings up the question, of whether hauling my quads in the bed of my MV, would make me exceeding my rights with a vehicle registered as historical. I mean, they would be my own private quads. Not like I am hauling them for someone, but it could be considered to be going beyond the scope of what is allowed for a vehicle registered as historic.

I will be buying a 5 ton this year, so this subject is of interest to me.
 
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scoutmanadam

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in washington state its commercial vehicles only, that being said remember that the dot guys and staters are there so if you look overloaded or anything like that and you drive-by, they might come out to stop you anyway. i know three local dot and stater guys and they tell me they keep a closer eye on the trucks that drive by then the ones in line. they say those are the guys with either collecter, antique..etc tags and are hauling.

sometimes it seems they look for a reason to pull you over, but for the most part around my part of washington there just trying to keep the highways safe. and making sure if you want to tow and haul loads, that you have the proper tags and weights
 

Floridianson

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Just a though if the weight station says all TRUCKS, do you stop in your pickup? They have a truck license plate why not stop in them ?

Come on a pickup is not a truck. If you knew then you know if you have no weight the you won't trip the red but bypass and you roll on through.
Now you want to talk AG inspection then all trucks loaded should roll through AG in FL. by law.
The only reason I believe is they don't realy know if we are realy Military or not and not that important with and empty bed.
 

BikerBi11

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ok guys and gals, best thing to do is check with the state you are in. Also, get a copy of the fed laws. It is a green book that can be picked up at most truck stops. LEARN THIS BOOK! Or at least how to find things in it. I drive vehicles that could be construed as commercial. They are private. Have I been pulled over... yes. Have I ever gotten a ticket in one of my vehicles..... NO. I do not stop at ports with my private vehicles. I am DOT trained and certified as a DOT inspector. I travel all over the U.S. and even though I carry a class A CDL, I would be comfortasble driving an 18 wheeled vehicle that i PRIVATELY owned anywhere. The secret, is that you can NOT haul ANYTHING for profit, or a company that is in buisness! I do haul things for my own end use. I have had friends ask me to help them move with one of my vehicles for payment. I do not help anyone move for payment, because the minute you agree to this, you fall under DOT as a commercial vehicle. So, I help move them for free! I also do not log any of my private vehicles. If you do get pulled over, this can open up a whole new can of worms!
 

Robo McDuff

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OK. Enough is enough. Time for one or all of you to enlighten a cold logical thinking European about some, shall I say "weirdness" in American law and in behavior? :wink: :cookoo:


Exactly, which is why, when I bought a Peterbilt 379 for personal fun, I put a regular pickup bed on it, so it was classified as a pickup under California law,
1) How the friggin h*ll do you manage to get a Pete 379 (nice trucks, would love to have one) declassified as a "pick-up"? If you would extend the sleeper to beyond the rear wheels, it would become a sedan or mini-van?

2) Or more general: what is the legal definition of a pick-up?

There are no permanent weigh stations in continental Europe as far as I know. With the traffic density and the prices of real estate, weigh stations would be too expensive to built and creating too much chaos on the roads. We do have very strict weight and dimension laws, but they are checked and enforced by spot-checks.

Most European countries now also have country-wide toll-roads. For trucks its very simple. You need to have a pre-paid and activated electronic pass before entering a highway. Hundreds or thousands of portals across the highway electronically check all trucks when passing, no stopping needed, and I think its quite hard to circumvent. In the USA, since December 2010 the Dallas North Tollway is an example of how this works.

For the rest -think I mentioned this earlier - in Europe vehicles are divided in person car and trucks. Personal is everything with three or more wheels weighing not more than a GVTW of 7700 Lbs. This goes on a normal driving license. EVERYTHING above 7700 LBS and you need a truck drivers license. If you want to drive professionally, you need additional schooling and tests. Motor cycle is separate as "motorized vehicle with two or three wheels".
 
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USAFSS-ColdWarrior

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OK. Enough is enough. Time for one or all of you to enlighten a cold logical thinking European about some, shall I say "weirdness" in American law and in behavior? :wink: :cookoo:




1) How the friggin h*ll do you manage to get a Pete 379 (nice trucks, would love to have one) declassified as a "pick-up"? If you would extend the sleeper to beyond the rear wheels, it would become a sedan or mini-van?

2) Or more general: what is the legal definition of a pick-up?

There are no permanent weigh stations in continental Europe as far as I know. With the traffic density and the prices of real estate, weigh stations would be too expensive to built and creating too much chaos on the roads. We do have very strict weight and dimension laws, but they are checked and enforced by spot-checks.

Most European countries now also have country-wide toll-roads. For trucks its very simple. You need to have a pre-paid and activated electronic pass before entering a highway. Hundreds or thousands of portals across the highway electronically check all trucks when passing, no stopping needed, and I think its quite hard to circumvent. In the USA, since December 2010 the Dallas North Tollway is an example of how this works.

For the rest -think I mentioned this earlier - in Europe vehicles are divided in person car and trucks. Personal is everything with three or more wheels weighing not more than a GVTW of 7700 Lbs. This goes on a normal driving license. EVERYTHING above 7700 LBS and you need a truck drivers license. If you want to drive professionally, you need additional schooling and tests. Motor cycle is separate as "motorized vehicle with two or three wheels".
Your questioning confusion is fully understandable and "we share your pain."

In a nutshell, we have 50 states (plus territories) which each govern motor vehicles by their own sets of state laws. While there is a cooperative "charter" of sorts that agrees to reciprocal honor of each state's laws by the other states (dictated by where the vehicle is registered), the result, by design, is far from uniform in application or enforcement.

For commercial vehicles, there are some Federal Laws governing interstate commerce and its vehicular safety issues, but it's still a mass of confusion.

Hence, when threads are begun and discussions explode on this website, it is always a good idea to attempt to keep the posts "state specific" rather than a shotgun effect of 50+ perspectives. One such "focused" thread is: http://www.steelsoldiers.com/politi...-texas-fmv-laws-former-military-vehicles.html, whereas a "shotgun" example can be found here: http://www.steelsoldiers.com/politics-related-mv-hobby/69996-most-mv-friendly-state-s.html. Both are great threads in their own right, but you can see the variety.... and these deal ONLY with the FMV perspective of LAWS and EXPERIENCES. Just imagine the expotential explosion of diversity when you throw in GVWR, Licensing, Commercial vs. Non-Commercial vs. Recreational vs. Antique vs. FMV vs. School or other Buses vs. Heavy Equipment.... You can see the fundamentals of this chaos.

I hope that "helps"... We'll let someone from California explain how to reclass a Pete to a Pick-Up. <BIG SIGH>

John
San Angelo, TX
USA
 

Truckoholic

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1) How the friggin h*ll do you manage to get a Pete 379 (nice trucks, would love to have one) declassified as a "pick-up"? If you would extend the sleeper to beyond the rear wheels, it would become a sedan or mini-van?
There is no understanding our laws. They just......are. Of course you guys over there have some real strange laws that I have a hard time comprehending, and that I would not be able to live with.

As far as declassifying a Peterbilt 379 as a pickup......... I said that's why a put a pickup bed on it, but I did not say I was succesfull:) The following is how the California Vehicle Code defines a pickup truck.............

94.jpg
V C Section 471 Pickup Truck


Pickup Truck

471. A "pickup truck" is a motor truck with a manufacturer's gross vehicle weight rating of less than 11,500 pounds, an unladen weight of less than 8,001 pounds, and which is equipped with an open box-type bed not exceeding 9 feet in length. "Pickup truck" does not include a motor vehicle otherwise meeting the above definition, that is equipped with a bed-mounted storage compartment unit commonly called a "utility body."
And therefore, because my Peterbilt Pickup was over 13,000 pounds "unladen" when the DMV went to change the title at my request to "Pickup", their computer system would not let them, because it was over 8,001 pounds. So they actually ended up going ahead and changing the title from 3 axles, to 2, but changed it from saying "Dump Truck" to "VA" which they told me was the code for "Other Commercial". So I still am not entirely clear if I was right in believing that I could drive right by open weigh stations when the signs said "No Pickups". Because as far as the legal definition, even though it had a pickup bed on it that was less than 9 feet in length, because of it's weight, it did not fall under the vehicle codes definition of a "Pickup". But as far as equipment, and intended use, it very much was a pickup, and had only 2 axles, so therefore did not require a commercial drivers license.

The laws might not always make sense, but I try my best to understand them, so I know how to get around them.....Or atleast atempt to get around them without doing anything obviously dangerous or illegal.
 
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SCRAP

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personally I have gotten so many responses from actual people at scales to local cops , to actual dot cops, the bottom line is all of the above can write you tickets based on their Interpretation of the law. With that in mind , If your in a five ton truck, unladen, without a trailer , are under 26k and not commercial , do not have to stop. And by no means admit to being commercial no matter how much pressure they put on you. Historic or farm plates solve most hassles in my state, just whatever you do DO NOT exceed your tagged weight !

with this in mind, If you LOOK commercial , you will have far more problems than most people.
 

paulfarber

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Every State is different. But if you are legal in your state, then you are legal in the other 49. Sure LEO/DOT can cite you, but they may or may not have the mental faculties (or believe your story) so they cite you. Its up to the Judge to interpret the case and rule on it.

If the weigh station says 'ALL VEHICLES OVER 10,000 lbs must stop' then you should pull in as a lawful traffic control device is telling you to. Since most of our MVs are still green... we may be getting away with a little more as they think we are government and have an exemption.
 

Robo McDuff

In memorial Ron - 73M819
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Somehow that Peterbilt looks out of proportion and small, maybe because of the pick-up bed. Removing one axle and shortening it did not help lower the weight enough?

Thanks for the explanation
 

86m1028

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Murphy TEXAS
Weight stations for commercial tagged trucks. You do not need CDL for personal use. If you are using it for profit , better plan on stopping, and better have correct type CDL !!! Driven may commercial trucks this size working for a power company , if you are pulling a trailer better plan on stopping, truck by itself, let her eat !!!

Its different state by state.

Texas you need a CDL.


****I have been flagged in to the station in a single wheel 1 ton pick up*****
 

USAFSS-ColdWarrior

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Its different state by state.

Texas you need a CDL.


****I have been flagged in to the station in a single wheel 1 ton pick up*****
Sir,
I respectfully compare your statement above to "trying to paint a picture on a thimble with a 4" paintbrush."

UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES you MIGHT be correct. Please take the time to "do your homework" by reading the details outlined in this thread: http://www.steelsoldiers.com/politi...-texas-fmv-laws-former-military-vehicles.html . You will find that your statement is NOT all inclusive, and the TEXAS LAWS contain much that is open to interpretation.

Thank you,
John
San Angelo, TX
 
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