trucks, weigh stations ?????

[srt]

I've bought myself a '92 Ford F350 12 stake body dump.  I will use this thing for everything from hauling logs to hauling hay to trailering my junk around.  None of this will be for hire. 

After working through the state's motor vehicles phone system, I finally got a guy that says I can tag the truck as a personal vehicle, no commercial tags required, and believe it or not, since it's door sticker says 11,000 lbs, and it's a diesel, I can self inspect.  I'm liking the self inspect part, because they'll fail you for so many things that have no safety significance - like a misalligned gear shift indicator for example.

Here's the question:  If I tag this thing for say 20K, and since the door sticker says 11K now, am I supposed to stop at those weight stations?  Even when empty?  I think the answer is yes, but maybe there's something I don't know about this stuff. 

My Bro-in-law (a trucker) says the weight thing is just a money generator for the state, and tht if I put "NOT FOR HIRE" stickers on the door, they are not likely to bother me.  The other side of the coin is I hear the D.O.T. can lay really heavy fines on you if you give them reason to.

The bad thing about this is that most of my using of this truck will be farm related, and I should be able to put farm truck tags on it.  The farm I own is in Maryland, my steers are in south Jersey (100 miles away where I live).  Maryland considers a farmer working his own timber to still be farming.  In both states, you're allowed to drive a farm tagged vehicle between farms you own or rent (on farm business, of course).  I can just see me trying to explain to a NJ state trooper why I'm Legal driving a MD Farm truck towing a WM mill in South Jersey!!  I'm not brave enough to call that much attention to myself or my 15 year old rig!

Ok, enough rambling......   What's the scoop on the weight stations, and what paperwork should I expect to give them when I roll across one? 

[Hi-Country Orange]

i think the d.o.t. won't worry to much about a one ton truck pulling a mizer, they have bigger fish frys to attend  8)

[Don_Papenburg]

Most states vary on the weigh station visit weight. Illinois love the portables. Just make sure you are not weighing more than your plate or operators license.

[Gary_C]

I have my own rule about asking questions and stoping at weigh stations with pickups.

"Never ask a question unless you are prepared to get an answer you will not like and never stop in weigh stations."

If you are stopped after passing a weigh station, play dumb. Give em the old "I did not know I had to stop, this is a pickup, not a truck!" If that does not work, then try the "I'm just a dumb farmer."  ;D

Nothing good will ever come from a weigh station but you can get a lot of bad things there, so stay away from them.  :D

[footer]

Almost every state that I have seen requires a pick up pulling a trailer to stop at a weigh station weather it is for hire or not. Some states do not require you to stop if you are pulling a piece of equipment like an air compressor, log splitter, or portable sawmill. Just don't put a log on it and pass by the scale ;D. If you hook up any trailer to your pickup you would most likely need to stop. If your Gross Vehicle Weight Rating of your truck and trailer combined is over 26000 LBS, you would need to get a Class A CDL liscese. So if your truck has a GVWR of 11000 lbs, dont hook up to a trailer that has a rating of over 15000lbs, such as a tandem duelly trailer or most tripple axle trailers.

[Bibbyman]

We have a 1 ton Dodge with 26000 lb license because in Missouri your truck license weight limit has to cover the loaded trailer also.  We almost never pull a trailer and the one we have couldn't carry enough weight to make us overloaded by our license.

Missouri has gone to portable scale units in vans.  They have a few weigh stations near the borders but they are not always open.  The few times they've been open I've been empty and just went on past. 

The other day when we took a load of lumber down to West Plains we came on a station that was open.  I told Mary we may be making a mistake and pulled on in. (We just had about 1300 bf of oak on the back – no trailer.)  I knew we were well under our license weight but I was worried that we may be over in axle and tire size weight. The fat-bellied guy in the little house looked like he was bored to tears.  He just waived us on.

That was our first experience with a weigh station. I still don't know if we had to stop.

[thurlow]

Guess this (moving a load with a pickup) is one time it pays to live in a backwards  ;D state.  I agree with Gary_C; have never stopped at a weigh station.  When I was running cattle, I had a 32 ft tri-axle gooseneck.  It would hold 14-15000 # of feeder cattle.  Don't know what the gross weight was; just always licensed my truck to make sure I was covered.  In TN, you don't have to license farmer type trailers; the truck carries the whole thing.  Been pulled over twice;  first time by a YOUNG  state trooper because he couldn't see the truck license plate; walked around looking me over.  This was in the Spring;  cattle had been on early grass.  He came back to the truck and said, "Your cattle sure have diarrhea, anything wrong with 'em?"  I had never thought about cattle having "diarrhea" and had to turn my head to keep him from seeing my smile;  finally told him, "You'd have  put me in jail if some of that had splashed on you (HE SURE WAS PURTY); I would have had to laugh." 

The other time, I had gone to Memphis to get a load of used utility poles; big load on a dual-tandem gooseneck.  Almost home on a 2-lane state highway, I watched in the rear view as a DOT (weigh boys, we called 'em) car ran up behind me and looked me over.  He finally flicked on his lights and I pulled over.  He didn't ask for license or anything, just said, "Where'd you get them poles?"  I told him and he asked, "What'cha gonna do with them?"  I told him saw corner posts and corral plank.  He told me to have a nice day.............

[PawNature]

If I were you I would make a trip to the Scale house ther in MD, and NJ and explain your situation and find out exactly what the law is and what is required of you. Or find a way just to bypass the scales alltogather.

[sawguy21]

The commercial transport people take a real dim view of trucks bypassing the scales. Here they and the RCMP carry portables. We are not required to stop unless the licenced GVW is over 12,500 kg, about 26000 lb.

[Quartlow]

Truck law's have to be some of the goofiest things out there.

Bibby, that 26,000 plate won't do you a bit of good in Ohio. Semi tractors with a Com. plate get plated to 80,000. put commercial plates on a pickup, and they go by what it says on the door. If the door sticker is gone, they look at the weight rating of the tires. If your pulling a trailer, same deal. no weight sticker on it they go by the tires. Now thats IF they bother you.
most of the time trucks up to ones like say an f550 that look like a pickup they never bat an eye at.

Scales on state routes can operate different than a scale on the interstate. If it's on the interstate they have to follow federal guidelines. A state scale can stop every tom dick and harry coming down the road. on the Interstate, non commercial/private use under 55,000 is not required to stop. So you can take your truck onto a trailer load it up with logs and blow right on by. If you get stopped just tell them they are your logs and they are for your use. you just better darn well be under 55,000 and/or not over your plated weights.


Like GaryC said. Don't stop and if you do get stopped play dumb. I don't know if I would try and farm plate it, that could get tricky. I would put a private plate on it and ride. Thats what I like about having the suburban, its a 3/4 ton. But Ohio calls it a station wagon  :D Now what are they going to do with that at the scales?

SC stopped me and my nephew moving home from GA to Oh. We blew the NB scales onI85 and got chased down. We had his one ton and a thirty foot tri-axle goose neck. He asked where we where going. I explained we where moving home. The reason he stopped us was because we had the bull dozer on there along with all of household stuff. When he asked why we didn't stop, I explained it was my understanding I wasn't required to. His answer was ,well we like you to stop. I told him I'm quite sure you would but its not required. He said well yes, but we still like you to stop and turned us loose.

[solodan]

There is a weigh station about 3 miles from my place on a 2 lane highway. I think I have seen it opened maybe 2 or 3 times in the last 10 years.

[Polly]

 8) 8)  after paying over one thousand dollars in fines i feel qualified to speek   :D :D best thing to do is call dot in state you are in and ask for regs for your paticular state  ,if you are traveling interstate with farm tags their is amiileage limitation that you are allowed to be fromk home , presently most interstate scales state all trucks , farm u haul whatever they just to get a look at you this is result of terroserts act rules passed by congress last year,                                               nowanything between ten thousand and one pound and twentysix thousand pound no cdl is required but you must have a medical card stating you are fit to drive a cmv  and a log book covering time you have been driving if you got commercial tags you need your company name your home location and your dot registration number  if you are driving a straight truck over 26000 lb you need a class b cdl  license pick up trucks pulling a goose neck trailer with a ball type hitch is considered non commercial  if you are using a fifth wheel type hitch simeral to semi trucks you are considered commercial  same regs apply as a tractor trailer truck apply  when entering a interstate scale the scale house has two sections the first one checks overall condition of vehicle looking for unsafe conditions such as flat tire on tandom axle driver not wearing seet belt and truck identification second window checks axle weight of vehicle you are allowed 20,000 lb per axle   best advise i can give you is stay off interstates and take the route before isenhire saarted building interstate system 8) 8) 8) :D :D

[footer]

The other time, I had gone to Memphis to get a load of used utility poles; big load on a dual-tandem gooseneck.  Almost home on a 2-lane state highway, I watched in the rear view as a DOT (weigh boys, we called 'em) car ran up behind me and looked me over.  He finally flicked on his lights and I pulled over.  He didn't ask for license or anything, just said, "Where'd you get them poles?"  I told him and he asked, "What'cha gonna do with them?"  I told him saw corner posts and corral plank.  He told me to have a nice day.............

I wish I were that luckey. A couple years ago, I bought a tandem dually trailer, and was pulling it empty one day past the weigh station. I was pulling in through the empty lane, and they stopped me. At the time, my truck didn't have a weight sticker on it, so it was liscensed for 3 tons. The trailer was new enough to not have plates on it yet. He made me pull over the scale and weigh the truck and then the trailer, then called me inside. He ended up giving me a ticket for being over weight on the truck, since I wasent liscenced for more than 3 tons, and operating out of class, because I didn't have a class A CDL at the time.  Cost me $250.00, and I traided the trailer in the next week for a tandem axle, single tire trailer rated at 14,000 lbs.

[Quartlow]

  checks axle weight of vehicle you are allowed 20,000 lb per axle

Actually thats not 100% correct either. First off the weigh axles in groups, typically they weigh the steer, which you allowed 12,000 on, the exception being some states allow you 20,000 if you have super single tires on. Then they weigh the drives Depending on the axle spacing determines your max weight but it starts at 17,000 per axle for a total of 34,000 on that group.
Then they weigh the trailer axles in a group, and again if it,s a tandem you start at 34,000 for that group. As the axles are spread apart you gain weight per axle, 4 to 8 feet on two axles you get 34,000 at 10 feet on two axles you you can get 40,000 pounds.

Again this is the federal guideline, no state can lower these weights on a federally funded highway.
They can RAISE them though. Michigan is a prime example. Ask Jeff what a Michigan train is.
They line axles up from the back of the trailer almost to the front. MI lets them have 17,000 per axle with a max of 11 axles, they also let you go with 20,000 on the steer on standard tires. That law may have changed my info on that is a couple years old. I read a little further MI 164,000 on 11 axles

Used to be you could get 20,000 per axle on 9 foot spread. I used to run Detroit out of Youngstown every day. On the trailer with a 3 axle 9 foot spread gave me 60,000 on the trailer, 34,000 on the drives and 20,000 on the steer. for 114,000 in MI. Ohio lets you go 90,000 on the turnpike. We used to load up go over and get on the pike. The trick was moving weight around with the air ride as you went across the axle scale getting on.  I could dump the air off of any of the trailer axles with a dump valve. Had two airbags under the front of the trailer at the fifth wheel, when you charged them it pulled weight off the drives and moved it foreword. I could get on the pike most days at a class 7 or 8 instead of a class 9.

heres complete explanation of Bridge law

[Polly]

 8) 8)wasyou in ohio or tenn  vehicles in transit not loaded should be considered non com until they are put in commercial operation example you purchased the vehicle in ohio and was transporting it home to georgia  i am not supprised though i got a ticket in ohio for mudflaps to short  one in tenn for using cough syrup to fight a cold 700.00 that time  :D :D :D

[Furby]

Quart,
As you stated those numbers are for interstate routes.
MI and IL only allow 32,000# for tandems on state routes so folks can still get in trouble even if they are legal on the interstates.
I've been around the block with my boss as they are starting up with some flatbeds this season, but want to keep using the single axle tractors and I don't think it's gonna cut it. I guess we'll see. :

Polly, most folks don't realize how easy it is to drop dirty using simple over the counter meds.

[Robert R]

I've yet to be stopped with my log haulers.   8)  Of course, if they decided to chase me, I'd not have much of a chance of outrunning them unless they were on foot.  All these huge weights are starting to make the girls real, real nervous though.  I may have to limit their internet time but without their help, I'd never find anything.

[Quartlow]

Furb,
Actually IL is 34,000, IL Weight and bridge Scroll down to page 8

Couldn't find the ones for MI but with all those MI Trains running around and the fact that they allow 17,000 on an axle grouped in 4 feet, I can't see them limiting you to 32,000

I could be wrong. I've been wrong before  :D

My first truck was a single axle, pulled a tri axle trailer. Just don't load anything right over the drives. Start at the landing gear and go back. If you can.

[Furby]

My book is an 05 so there may have been a change in IL.
I know they will make a 8 ton truck pull in the weigh stations around Chicago.

They are planning on filling the flatbeds full, with a pretty fair amount of weight.
They are paying for the tickets if they do go this route, as we will be delivering in Chicago and there's a scale at each toll booth. :

[Quartlow]

I would tell em to well you know  . They can't make you go out overweight, and they can't fire you for it

[Furby]

They are really good at following the rules, so I figure we'll weigh a couple loads up the street and then see how things fall.
I have to go an hour or so to get to a cert. scale, so weighing each load isn't an option and our weights change due to watering.
They had talked about getting a full sized rig, and they may have gone back to that idea, I don't know.
We'll see before long.

[Quartlow]

watering? what the heck you hauling

[Furby]

Plants.

[Quartlow]

plants? on a flatbed? must be some bigguns.  :D

[thurlow]

Okay, so it's not a truck, but I still need to know;  am I gonna need to weigh this thing?   The scales are just ahead and I'm afraid to proceed..........