I know this has been beat to death and I'm not posting this to debate any laws. I'm simply posting this for the sake of info for anyone interested. I've been towing with motorhomes and enclosed trailers for 20 years and never had a problem with the law. Two years ago my wife and I stepped up to a small gooseneck toter and I built a 38' stacker trailer. The reason for this was so we can do a little more traveling to some bigger races. Basically taking our version of "real vacations". I've read all the same stories as everyone else and decided for a little bit of peace of mind, I would go ahead and get a class A CDL. I have been in communication with my states DOT. Fed and state branches told me I did not need one, but encouraged me to get one. For the record, I'm nearly 50,000#'s and 71.5' long.

I'm sure all states are a little different, but this story pertains to Michigan. I passed the physical and got a 2 year card. I then passed my 3 written tests at the SOS to get a permit. I found a local tester, who worked with me to do testing on nights and weekends. I took my rig for the first test. I passed the pre trip easily, but the off road skills did not go well and I failed the 90 degree alley dock. Afterwards the tester told me "I would never pass with this setup"......and I believe him.

I then did a lot of research and found out if I had a class B with air brakes, I could take a class A with a hydro brake setup and the air brakes would transfer up. I took a second test with just the motorhome for a B. Completely aced it. I waited a couple weeks, got another permit, and went back with a 13K dually and 16K rental open trailer and aced my A test. I just received my new license today, so I figure everything went well with the state, and it does not have an air brake restriction.

Like I said, I'm not arguing whether or not anyone needs a CDL. I'm just sharing this info to show it's not terribly hard for an average racer like myself to get one if your interested.

Mike, I have a class a non cdl license and weigh 71000 lbs at 88 feet 10 inches. I took 2 written tests and a 20 minute driving test. Included parallel parking and air brake test in my rig. This is in Texas and have not had an issue since here or out of state. I have never stopped at a weigh station and been nearly from coast to coast with out incident until the Pennsylvania Turnpike last summer of which has been resolved.

The CDL does bring commercial into the scenario and possibly may involve commercial insurances as well as your hobby being labeled as commercial as you are obtaining a commercial drivers license.

Though we race for fun..."commercial licenses" for RV towing as a hobby may be misconstrued by a DOT officer in any given state.

JMO...I will stay non commercial class a licensed 6with towing up to 80,000 lbs unless something changes in the state of Texas. Not sure how out of state works as they all are different it seems.

At my work they stopped us from pulling small trailers with pick ups and vans. All under 26,000lbs because we don't have a medical card.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by TORQIN:
Mike, I have a class a non cdl license and weigh 71000 lbs at 88 feet 10 inches. I took 2 written tests and a 20 minute driving test. Included parallel parking and air brake test in my rig. This is in Texas and have not had an issue since here or out of state. I have never stopped at a weigh station and been nearly from coast to coast with out incident until the Pennsylvania Turnpike last summer of which has been resolved.

The CDL does bring commercial into the scenario and possibly may involve commercial insurances as well as your hobby being labeled as commercial as you are obtaining a commercial drivers license.

Though we race for fun..."commercial licenses" for RV towing as a hobby may be misconstrued by a DOT officer in any given state.

JMO...I will stay non commercial class a licensed 6with towing up to 80,000 lbs unless something changes in the state of Texas. Not sure how out of state works as they all are different it seems.[/QUOTE.

Yeah, I've thought about this, and I still follow the exact instructions the FMCSA gave me for being non commercial. I will plead my case that I am still non commercial, but either way, fines or not, I feel I have a better chance at driving away. Michigan does not have a non commercial class A. We'll see, maybe I'm making a mistake, but I think it's the right move.

Well i was just stopped by DOT last month. i live in florida and was coming home from gainesville on a saturday night. i have a f450 and a 40 ft gooseneck. he asked me what i had in the trailer so i told him. he asked me do i race for money or make money? i answered honestly and said yes. then i was asked if i have a CDL and answered no. he answered that he figured not, and said that’s why he stopped me. i was not doing anything wrong. told me to get a CDL and let me go.

Just the opposite in Texas, was told by DMV and DOT, you don't need a CDL for an RV and towing...but require a class a license over 26000 lbs.

Tried to get over length permit...will not issue to registered RV. I carry a photo of me and my rig at DMV holding my temp license just in case.

This is a festering problem across the country as not one state has the same rules as another. It seems to be at the officers interpretation of said state law. Attitudes will likely affect the outcome of each situation.

I can keep a good attitude. I'm pretty well educated at this whole thing. In Mi, if you hold any CDL, your motorhome and trailer can be 75', so that's nice for me. I carry all supporting documents in case I need visual aids.

Currently here in NC with a motor home or toter it is 90 ft length. Used to be 60-65 and many got burned. But don't dare have your stuff registered in your company name or have trailer tagged at weight less than you carry. That puts you at risk of DOT citing you for over weight and business registration requires a CDL. BUT I have attended meetings with State and Federal DOT and you don't get the same interpretation from any 2 of them. I took a 77ft mess from coast to coast and was never stopped, same with current mess which is about 70ft. Got stopped once with F-350--75 in a 60 !!!. Like said above, no way to make them all happy so just try not to draw any atention and I also never stop at the scales.

Good job Mike.
You did the right thing.

Mike,

Do you have a CDL to drive your RV in Texas?

quote:

Originally posted by TORQIN:
Mike,

Do you have a CDL to drive your RV in Texas?

I assume so, I have a legit class A CDL. I should be able to technically drive in all 50 states, may not be totally legal, but I do have a legal drivers license....lol.

My bad, Mike B is who I was asking...lol

quote:

Originally posted by Mike Nitzsche:

quote:

Originally posted by TORQIN:
Mike,

Do you have a CDL to drive your RV in Texas?

I assume so, I have a legit class A CDL. I should be able to technically drive in all 50 states, may not be totally legal, but I do have a legal drivers license....lol.

Mike, you now have a "commercial" drivers license and may have to adhere to all "commercial " rules in each state as well as insurances and the liabilities that come with a "commercial" drivers license like, medical cards, timesheets (log books), limitations of the amount of hours you drive each day, stopping at scales, the list goes on and on from state to state. Especially when your rigs weight is combined over 26000 lbs. When involved in an accident and you have a commercial drivers license the rules get even uglier when you don't have log books, commercial liability insurance on the truck and trailer separately. The commercial rules are pretty strict from state to state. I have done homework on this as well and you can easily get caught up commercially with the wrong attorneys involved against you.

These are some of the reasons I will not get a commercial license as I will never be a commercial truck driver for a living therefore won't need a full blown CDL according to my DMV in Houston and The head CDL training sargent for DOT in Austin Texas.

This is why I asked Mike B the question I did as he stated "you did the right thing". I am not certain we need full blown CDL s to drive our RV's with trailers hooked to them.

In Texas I can lead anyone to the Head CDL Sargent for DOT at the DMV in Austin as I have his number to hand to any DOT /trooper officer in Texas giving me grief if needed. Just PM me if needed.

I can't say for the other states...but know there are tons of RV'S out there towing big and small trailers that weigh over 26000 lbs on the roads all over the country with regular drivers license s and no CDL.

Not trying to be negative or telling you what to do...just some things to consider before going "commercial " with your drivers license and what all may come with it.

That took me forever to type on my phone...lol

Mr. Torqin is 100% dead on.
That is exactly what the Connecticut DOT Inspectors told me.

If you have a CDL you then need to abide 100% by the CDL laws (medical, time logs, etc, etc).
Also, Connecticut (for this EXACT reason) has NO CDL for RV's whether they are towing ANYTHING or not. Towing does NOT matter.
Here is the Connecticut "CDL Exemption" link:
http://www.ct.gov/dmv/cwp/view...=|41639|41654|#41672
As the inspector stated, "If there was an exception to the rule (i.e. towing) it would be stated as such on the link", similar to the "farming" exception. There are NO RV exceptions.

So moral of the story: I can't get a CDL for my RV if I wanted to. It doesn't exist.

Michigan DOT/State police told me I am not commercial, I don't need a CDL, but he can not speak for any officer that may pull me over and have other idea's. This officer told me it would be safest if I had a CDL, but that I don't need one.

Let me put it another way. I've read many stories of Texas and CDL/special licenses. If I was going to tow through Texas, can I do it, legally, with just an average car license? If not, then I would NEED a CDL, because my state does not issue any other licenses and Texas won't issue me a license. See where I'm going with this.

I must repeat, I am not trying to tell anyone what to do...But obtaining a "commercial" drivers license may not be the answer to driving your RV with or without a trailer when over 26,000 lbs.

Your local DMV may not have the answers your looking for, make contact with your state capitols main DMV for DOT and ask as many questions as you can and seek out the answers as becoming a full blown legal truck driver is NOT your remedy to driving your personal RV for recreation.

There have been many discussions on the internet and podcasts...just because they said one thing does not make it true...make contact with your state capitols DMV/DOT and find out for yourself. I have not and will not accept becoming a commercial truck driver to drive my personal RV...and the laws don't state anywhere that I have to either.

I am a little confused. So you guys are saying if a commercial truck driver who drives for a living, takes a weekend off from work and drives his legal length toterhome and trailer to the track. He would need follow all of the laws of a commercial truck? You believe he would need commercial plates, commercial insurance and all of that because he is held to a higher standard with his CDL? He is not driving his truck for a living at this point, he is just driving a RV for the weekend. I think what you are missing is Mike is saying he doesn't need a CDL for his rig in the first place.

This is getting off the original reason for posting. I'm going to have to say, just because a person has a CDL, does not make them "commercial" towing a race car. I have dozens of friends who are truck drivers by day, racers on the weekend with MH's and trailers that are not commercial and in they're personnel names. I don't see how having a CDL means everything you drive is commercial.

I can tell you that I have only heard one story of a racer with a CDL getting hassled. He got in trouble for not having a log book and was told to stop at next rest area for 8 hours......after the officer Googled his name found out he is a pretty well known racer. lol.