Stopping at Scales

[tb2040g]

How many of you seasoned veteran old iron haulers stop at scales on Interstates when towing with a 1 ton truck and gooseneck trailer?Do we have to stop if we weigh less than 26000 lbs.Thanks

[Tom Schoolcraft]

Here in the State of West Virginia ANYTHING Licensed 10,000# ( B-1 license plate) or over MUST stop at the scales... loaded or not

[Roger Kirschenman]

Here in Nebraska, the sign says all pickups with trailers, R Vs exempt, must weigh.So if your pulling a little one wheel trailer behind a little ford ranger you better stop or they will run after you.

[John Newman, Jr.]

If the guy pulling a one wheel trailer behind his little Ford Ranger has it over loaded and off balance, would you want to be going by him when it fails catastrophically? The purpose of having ALL trucks & trailers stop is to insure the safety of everyone else on the highway.
Some laws actually have a touch of logic behind them.....

[Ken Majeski]

Well.... Up around here bordering on Minnesota.... You Better stop at scales... AND if you are in Interstate Commerce and weigh over 10,000 combined weight you better have a current medical card, and all the other stuff required. If you are over 26,000 you need a current CDL.

The 10,000 pound figure don't allow much if you have a 3/4 ton pikup and a trailer. Just what is interstate commerce You might have to go to court on that one.

Might help or it will put you to sleep
Interstate Commerce Commission

Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), former independent agency of the U.S. government, established in 1887; it was charged with regulating the economics and services of specified carriers engaged in transportation between states. Surface transportation under the ICC's jurisdiction included railroads, trucking companies, bus lines, freight forwarders, water carriers, oil pipelines, transportation brokers, and express agencies.

The ICC, the first regulatory commission in U.S. history, was established as a result of mounting public indignation in the 1880s against railroad malpractices and abuses (see Granger movement), but until President Theodore Roosevelt, the ICC's effectiveness was limited by the failure of Congress to give it enforcement power, by the Supreme Court's interpretation of its powers, and by the vague language of its enabling act. Beginning with the Hepburn Act (1906), the ICC's jurisdiction was gradually extended beyond railroads to all common carriers except airplanes by 1940. Its enforcement powers to set rates were also progressively extended, through statute and broadened Supreme Court interpretations of the commerce clause of the Constitution, as were its investigative powers for determining fair rates of return on which to base rates. In addition, the ICC was given the task of consolidating railroad systems and managing labor disputes in interstate transport. In the 1950s and 60s the ICC enforced U.S. Supreme Court rulings that required the desegregation of passenger terminal facilities.

The ICC's safety functions were transferred to the Dept. of Transportation when that department was created in 1966; the ICC retained its rate-making and regulatory functions. However, in consonance with the deregulatory movement, the ICC's powers over rates and routes in rails and trucking were curtailed in 1980 by the Staggers Rail Act and Motor Carriers Act. Most ICC control over interstate trucking was abandoned in 1994, and the agency was terminated at the end of 1995. Many of its remaining functions were transferred to the new National Surface Transportation Board.

[Ken Majeski]

Well.... From what the DOT People tell me if you are selling ( Flea Market ect.) you are in commerce. That includes compensation for your efforts like Prizes, Ribbons, Trophys ect for any competition. So the way I take it if your Tractor Pulling you are in commerce BUT if you are just displaying for No Compensation you are not... Only thing I can say is if they ever catch you Good Luck. If they ever catch me I Will Go to Court on that one and if more people did they Might change their policy a Little.

[Doug Waggonner]

The way I see it is, If your in the hauling bussiness where your getting paid to haul whatever from point A to point B you are to stop at the scales. If this is YOU then your a regular truck driver and already know this . If your hauling your engines or tractors, or what ever for your self, I wouldnt stop at scales. and I DONT. The way I see it, the scales are for comerical big rigs. Not for the average guy hualing engines and tractors around.

[Darryl Boyd]

Just went through all of this for our company in California.



In California if your vehicle has commercial plates on it and the gross vehicle weight is over 10,000 lbs. you have to stop at the scales. Private vehicle or company vehicle doesn't matter. The CHP may not inforce that depending on the scales!


You also have to have a “motor carrier permit of property” or motor carrier permit for hire” from DMV which ever applies. (a major pain) Unless you have ICC numbers.



You also have to have a CHP “CA Number” (or CALT number) on the side of your doors. Also your vehicle registration has to reflect the proper gross vehicle weight of the vehicle on it and that gets you the new Gross vehicle weight stickers for the door also.(new this year)



Failure to do this will get you a citation for your company (or you) which is technically a misdemeanor! 6 months and up to $2000). If you comply before your “mandatory court time” the judge reduces it to an infraction and $500.



Been there done that! Pain!


Darryl

[Forrest A]

Here in WI anything over 4 tons must stop.

[Bryan Brooks]

I hauled farm equipment from Wisconsin to Texas every year from 1990 til 2004. A one ton dually and a gooseneck trailer rated at 14,000 lbs. As a private hauler, not for hire, I have never stopped at scales in Wisc., Minn., Iowa, Ill., Mis., Kansas, Okla., or Texas. I've never been pulled over for passing by opened weigh stations. Iowa has signs posted that say "over 12 tons must weigh" and I would say that is a good rule of thumb for "private haulers" in other states. It's the magic CDL weight that gets the attention. As for the trailer that is a rolling disaster, looking for a place to happen, the law has plenty of chances to see it before it gets close to a scale.

[Ken Majeski]

Well, Lately (Last 6 months) at the scale by Hudson just in Minnesota they have been chasing down ANY Pikup with a trailer and doing an inspection and Nitpicking every detail. Even Brand new trailers have been getting tickets for a clearance light 1/2 inch too far from the edge ect. This includes lawnmowers, People haulling aluminum Cans. Ect. Some businesses even changed to a small half ton pickup and smaller trailers to get under the 10,000 pound limit. At this point the only solution I see is to go around them and Take Your Chances... I always try to run Safe equipment but if more of us would take some of these matters to Court instead of just forfitting the fines they Might get more reasonable.

Now for another Can of Worms.... USDOT Numbers... Just who needs them. They have ran adds in the papers that even farmers need them to haul their cow behind their Pickup.

[Forrest A]

From what I have heard the DOT numbers are required for commercial use only, i.e. you are getting paid to move whatever is on the trailer. Farm use is considered commercial. If you like the way they look on your truck but don't haul for hire you can still get them, kind of a status symbol kind of thing...

Forrest

[Ken Majeski]

I Did call the State Patrol and they said I didn't need one if I wasn't commercial or getting compensated for hauling BUT to Be Prepared to answer that question... By that time I already had one Just in Case... But where the problem lies is what do other states think. AND it all depends on how each officer interprets the book...

[MoRo]

Ken, that Hudson scale has a case of the *^%*# for anything that rolls. I got fined $69 because they couldn't find the serial number on the Freightliner I was driving. The computer printed sticker inside the door opening on the driver's side had somehow been rubbed off, or something. They made a federal case out of it so I could buy another pothole or something.
That was in 1992 or so.
~M~

[Ed Dina]

Well here's my story with my pickup and trailer. I never stopped at scales untill last year going to an auction with an empty truck and trailer. I was going past the scales and they came after me on foot, yes they ran out on the side of the New York State Thruway from a rest area on foot and they were waving there hands like crazy. I was going 70mph at the time so it took a while to stop, I looked back and here he comes walking down the side of the road, all i could think was this is trouble for sure, not only didn't I stop, but they ran after me on foot. Much to my surprise he was very nice about it and said pickups with trailer must stop now that means everybody. He said chances are we will just wave you through, but if you don't stop then we think your up to something and we are comming to get you. Ever sence that I have stopped at several and even with some ugly loads of old "junk" tied on all over the trailer they allways just bypass me and send me on my way....Ed

[todengine]

Here is a good rule of thumb. From the time you wake up in the morning until you go to bed at night, you will have violated at least a dozen laws. I don't think you can breathe anymore in some jurisdictions without violating some ordnance.

Because all of you are complacent (and so am I) and do not complain and let your feelings known expect the noose to continue to tighten around your neck and the freedom that you think you have to fly away.

I think all those C-5 Galaxy and C-130 Hercules transports going to Iraq are carrying our freedom with them because we are losing it here and they are gaining it there.

[sparkplug54]

No doubt the Patriot Act is unjust. As is when they say driving a vechicle is a privilege.If it is a free country based on natural law like James Otis said back in 1760's who got the idea from Sir Isaac Newton as a natural law then there can't be such a thing as privileges in a free country. But like George Washington said winning the Revolutionary War was the easy part the hard part of keeping men free from men. Anyway before you get to a scale you should see a sign with the weight that they want you to stop, if your vechicle GVWR is liscensed over that weight then you need to stop if the scale is open. GVWR is the Gross Vechicle Weight Rating . If your vechicle rating is 10,000 lbs and the sign asked for vechicles to stop if your 10,000 lbs you need to stop. I'm a trucker and some states ask for you to stop if your vechicle weighs 8,000 lbs. If your 26,001 your over weight they include the driver in the total weight.Depending on what your vechicle is lisenced at and if your involved in iterstate commerce(bringing items across state lines to conduct business)you need a Class B or A lisence and a log book.

[sparkplug54]

Also remember that if you are over your vechicles axle weight that is also considewred over-weight.

[ListerDiesel]

Originally Posted by Forrest A

From what I have heard the DOT numbers are required for commercial use only, i.e. you are getting paid to move whatever is on the trailer. Farm use is considered commercial. If you like the way they look on your truck but don't haul for hire you can still get them, kind of a status symbol kind of thing...

Forrest

We have Tachographs on all vehicles over 3.5tonnes (tonne = metric ton) gross weight over here in the UK, and that also applies to vehicles that are under 3.5T but exceed that weight with a trailer, so my van is 2.9T by itself but with the trailer the gross combination weight goes up to 4.9T so I have to have a tacho fitted ($2K) if I want to use the trailer commercially.

There are drivers hours regulations that come with the use of the Tacho as well.

Doesn't apply to engine hauling though, all private trips are exempt.

We have roadside weighing stations here as well, but only few and far between. Most weight violations are from vehicles coming off the ferries from Europe where they have higher weight limits than we do.

You can also be pulled over at the side of the road and your vehicle checked over by the Vehicle Inspectorate, and that goes for any vehicle, but mostly it is commercials.

Peter