attn Jeff Teuton Towing "Again"

[Charlie Ford]

Since we're getting started again, and since I was stopped by a Texas State Trooper at the end of last year for the first time in 30 yrs. of towing, I have been checking up on my actual requirements. After getting kinda' pissy, the officer got pretty nice about the whole thing. He was an actual "weights & measures" officer, so he had all the books, charts, & 8X10 glossy's to explain my obligations. Now for all these years, I was under the impression that, since it was a personal rig & the actual weight was below 26K lbs., I was OK. Evidently, by law, this is not the case. I contacted a friend who is a retired weights and measures trooper. We talked and he agreed that they don't normally mess with rigs that look like private rigs if their not doing something wrong. He got me in touch with an officer to give me further info. What this man told me came as a shock. First, my trailer GVWR is 18K lbs. My truck is 10,5K, giving me a total of 28.5K That total requires me to have a CDL period. The real kicker is crossing state lines. He informed me that, if you cross state lines, the total permisable GVWR drops to 10K. If your over that you're required to have all kind of stuff. USDOT, some kind of "united carrier", log book, physicals, etc., etc. , and that's for anybody, in any state.

Anybody got any info on this??