At what point do you have to have a CDL for Kalifornia? My Dad got a ticket out there for not having a CDL while driving our F350 crewcab with a gooseneck trailer loaded with axles. And not on a business trip, just a load of personal goodies! :-) GCVWR is 24,215 lbs (9900 for the truck and 14,315 on the trailer). Is this CDL country in CA? In Colorado it's not crystal clear but you don't HAVE to have a CDL till you hit 26001 GVW. Between that and a 55 mph hour towing limit in CA, wheeling a trailer queen out there must be a real pain!
Thanks for any help here, we're trying to send the ticket back to them without a check.

Call CHP, they will be able to give you the answer you need, or maybe not want to hear.................:skull:

According to the DMV's Commercial Driving Handbook, found on page 1 at http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/comlhdbk/comlhdbk.pdf

You need a CDL for GVWR over 26,001#, tow a vehicle over 10,001#, tows more than one vehicle or trailer bus, vehicles over 6,000# with 3 or more axles, 10+ passenger vehciles, hazmat etc, and all for compensation.

Exclusions to that are uncompensated tows 5th wheel trailers over 15,000# or trailer coach over 10,000#, firefighters during an emergency, etc.

Sounds like you can fight this one.

The way the law reads is if the trucks GVWR is over 26k OR the trailer's GVWR is over 10k you must have a CDL. You can't get away with just the truck GVWR. This basically makes anybody pulling a gooseneck a viable candidate for a CDL. Most of the time the coppers look the other way or don't know any better. Technically since your trailer's GVWr was 14-something the ticket is valid. This is a Federal statute for these weights also, not just Kalifornia. Luckily Colorado and Utah look the other way!

Originally posted by Stephen
At what point do you have to have a CDL for Kalifornia? My Dad got a ticket out there for not having a CDL while driving our F350 crewcab with a gooseneck trailer loaded with axles. And not on a business trip, just a load of personal goodies! :-) GCVWR is 24,215 lbs (9900 for the truck and 14,315 on the trailer). Is this CDL country in CA? In Colorado it's not crystal clear but you don't HAVE to have a CDL till you hit 26001 GVW. Between that and a 55 mph hour towing limit in CA, wheeling a trailer queen out there must be a real pain!
Thanks for any help here, we're trying to send the ticket back to them without a check.

If it was an uncompensated, non-commercial tow the CHP stepped in it - again - as usual.

Check and see if Co. has an endorsement for the trailer over 10,000 lbs. Nv has one you can take an easy test to get it and it will be good in Ca. Somewhere i have the penal code # that says Ca. has to honor your drivers license as i have been stopped in Ca. before i moved here while pulling 2 trailers and i had endorsments for it all and they cant do a damn thing about it. Now that i live here i have to have a class 1 to do all that.

Originally posted by cmegoup
The way the law reads is if the trucks GVWR is over 26k OR the trailer's GVWR is over 10k you must have a CDL. You can't get away with just the truck GVWR. This basically makes anybody pulling a gooseneck a viable candidate for a CDL. Most of the time the coppers look the other way or don't know any better. Technically since your trailer's GVWr was 14-something the ticket is valid. This is a Federal statute for these weights also, not just Kalifornia. Luckily Colorado and Utah look the other way!

Looks like you are right. I didn't read far enough along. Thats stupid though that if your truck is legal and is rated to haul that load and the trailer is rated for that load, then whats the problem? I mean if he was driving a large truck and dumped 3,000 lb of the the axles in the tow rig, he'd be okay cuz the trailer is fine and the tow rig is still under 26k!

Why you people choose to live in Kalifornia is still beyond my understanding.

I know that I can tow a goose neck rated at 10,000lbs as long as I have Farm equipment it on it .Anything else even a 4x4 needs a Class 1 .

Originally posted by Pavemen


Looks like you are right. I didn't read far enough along. Thats stupid though that if your truck is legal and is rated to haul that load and the trailer is rated for that load, then whats the problem? I mean if he was driving a large truck and dumped 3,000 lb of the the axles in the tow rig, he'd be okay cuz the trailer is fine and the tow rig is still under 26k!

it's not based on the actual load, it's based on the GVW's, IE I can be towing my trailer empty, but because it's GVW is 18000 lbs I would need a class A liscence to tow it, even though empty it is only 4000 lbs...

All I know it that it's a f'd up situation and I never tow that much anyway.

I see where you are coming from though.