I tow a 28' enclosed car trailer that the manufacturer has rated at 10,400 lbs. The truck and trailer are plain with no lettering, when fully loaded the trailer will never weigh more than 7,000 lbs. I tow probably 10k miles per year and go out of state (Pennsylvania) often.
My question is do I need a CDL to pull this trailer legally? I've been told that the magic number is 10,000 lbs. Anything that is rated over that by the manufacturer will put you in a category which requires a CDL class A. Was also told that a way around this was to register the truck as a combination vehicle and so long as the combination weight is under 26K lbs. I would be exempt from the requirement of needing the CDL license.
Doesn't seem to make any sense to me but I know that making sense to everyone has never been a prerequiste of any law. I also understand that this is a Federal DOT law and is not unique to PA.
Nick
My question is do I need a CDL to pull this trailer legally? I've been told that the magic number is 10,000 lbs. Anything that is rated over that by the manufacturer will put you in a category which requires a CDL class A. Was also told that a way around this was to register the truck as a combination vehicle and so long as the combination weight is under 26K lbs. I would be exempt from the requirement of needing the CDL license.
Doesn't seem to make any sense to me but I know that making sense to everyone has never been a prerequiste of any law. I also understand that this is a Federal DOT law and is not unique to PA.
Nick