"Ron" <rojoha@mediaone.net> wrote:
> Primarily aimed at you Law Enforcement types on the list. If you
> purchase an M49 fuel tanker (1200 gallons in two 600 gallon
> compartments) from DRMO and register it as an antique or just a
> truck and run it empty or just water( say for hand washing or dust
> control -- not drinking ), and use it just as an HMV and at HMV
> events, not for hire, does it require a CDL?
That depends on where you live. In California, you could register it
as a historical vehicle if it's 25 years or more old, and thus avoid
about $1000/year of weight fees, as long as you use it primarily for
exhibitions, parades, and so forth, and never for hire. However, you
would still need a class B commercial driver's license with air brake
and tanker certifications to drive it in California. Unless my eyes
are going bad, I don't think you mentioned which state you call home.
That makes a big difference in the licensing and registration
requirements.
In CA, a class B CDL is required to drive an M44-series 2.5-ton truck
(such as the M35 deuce and a half), because it has more than two axles
and a GVW over 6,000 pounds. An air brake certification may be
required, too... that probably varies depending on who you ask and how
they interpret the truck's air-over-hydraulic brake system, so it's
better to just get the air brake certification here, anyway.
I hope you live somewhere more hospitable to HMV owners, but in any
case, I strongly recommend at least getting some 1-on-1 instruction
from a commercial truck driver, even if your state doesn't require a
CDL. A deuce doesn't drive like a regular car. Although I think it's
silly that I need a CDL to drive my deuce just because it has a third
axle (a CDL wouldn't be required here in CA if it had 2 axles, with
its 24,000 pound GVW), I still think that the training I got for my
class A CDL was a Good Thing to help me drive my deuce safely!
-- Mark J. Blair, KE6MYK <mblair1@home.net> PGP 2.6.2 public key available from http://www.keyserver.net/ Web page: http://www.qsl.net/ke6myk/ DO NOT SEND ANY UNSOLICITED COMMERCIAL EMAIL TO THIS SITE PLEASE SEND PLAIN ASCII TEXT ONLY -- NO HTML OR QUOTED-PRINTABLE
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