I have 5 boys and have been taking different ones with me to recover my m35,m109,m818 and m944 so far, they really like helping me. I took my m818 over to pick up a grain tralier inft dodge IA a couple of weeks ago and got nailed by dot right after I got into iowa (just the truck with no trailer). The officer was traveling towards me and noticed my farm license plate and thougth it was strange a military truck had a plate. In nebraska as a farmer I dont have to have a dot number or keep a log book but when I crossed state lines my farm exemption goes away even though they have the same for their farmers. I got fined $380 for no logbook,no dot number,no fuel permit(I know ignorance is no excuse but I didnt even know what a fuel permit was) I do have a cdl because I have to here to drive a tractor truck. The dot shut me down for 10hrs because of the lack of a log book. I figured if I evened the $380 out over all the recovery trips I made with no problems I could live with it but it was sure hard to wait those 10hrs. The dot guy told me if I was going to a military show or something like that that I would be exempt from those requirements. My finickey lights all worked when he did the inspection which was a relief. I didnt take any pics until I got home.
Ross/Nebraska
Gleaner R72 filling my m919 with soybeans, I love my m919
Most farm exceptions to the CDL requirement have a restriction on how far from the farm you can be. It is 120 or 150 miles here in Michigan if I remember correctly.
Its 150 in Ga. But South Carolina is only 50 miles from my farm and they don't honor that. I take a chance every time I go to Fort Jackson for a pick-up because I am suppossed to have a CDL to drive my one ton and pull my 37 foot gooseneck. Its small roads all the way so very seldom see DOT. I do put my farm plackards on the door to identify the truck as a farm truck but that may not help in Carolina. Here in Ga. I have been waved in at inspections and released as soon as they found out I was a farmer.
Im not sure what you mean by thumper. Mine had the lower miles of the two and I think the other had a flashing light on the top. It was gone by the time I got my euc back.
Gleaner R72 filling my m919 with soybeans, I love my m919
I have a feeling that as more and more of these trucks get out we are going to start hearing lots more of these stories as I don't think anybody here is perfectly legal including me.
The problem was having the farm plates. Farm plates pretty much says you use the truck for the farm and that means making money with it. This means you would be considered a commercial operator. The Farm plates fall into an exception to having to have the CDL and commercial plates. As long as you are not operating commercially you would be just fine in most states but the Farm plates negate that an chance of you saying you were not operating to make money. I am not saying you will not run into an officer that may not know the correct interpretation of the CDL laws but you would be able to win in court. I would have to look it up but I think the distance restriction in Michigan only works as long as you do not try to cross state lines. Once you do then you must comply with all commercial operator requirements. I know I am perfectly legal because I only use my truck to move my stuff (not stuff I am selling). I see the guy selling mules at shows an such and he had a regular tractor trailer with the mules on it but has a declaration on the side of the truck saying the truck is not for hire and for private use only. I can't remember the exact wording but if I saw it while I was working I would write them for not having a CDL and not having all of his commercial paperwork in order. He may have a CDL and such but he did not have any DOT numbers on the truck and he did not have his company name and location. Commercial trucks must have the company name and location (city and state) on the both sides of the truck. They guy is moving the mules to sell at shows and hits a lot of shows. He is obviously doing this to make money and that makes him a commercial operator. The people running the ragged edge like this are the ones that will make it harder on those of us using our trucks for our own uses. It is a fine line between taking some stuff to the show to sell and operating commercially. If I am just taking a few extra parts I have to a show to try to make some fuel money then I may not be considered a commercial operator. This is clearly not the same as a guy hauling 10K lbs of scrap metal every month to the scrap man. At any rate I am now off my soapbox.
Reb,
If I were you I might try to go to court pleading you case with your local CDL exceptions showing you were fully compliant. If it looks like you were not compliant then just pay it and go on. You may at least get some of the charges on the ticket dropped. I have not seen it for sure to tell you but I think that farm exceptions do not work when going across state lines. If I knew the exact statute I would post if for you but I don't know exactly where to look. At any rate, good luck. My comments above were not directed toward you. I think you were really confused not trying to dodge the requirements.
Only a few places give me receprocity for farm tags. I can haul my own stuff, purchased, or for sale, but I cannot haul "for hire". Otherwise, I have to comply with all the rest of the stuff. The main difference is that farmers cannot haul for hire. Its always safest to have a log book.
That looks like a 53 footer is it? Did you get the ticket just because the guy was a jerk? I would have been pretty upset with this since it is legally registed and you were doing farm business. I think it might be time to appeal it with the local representative. That is a great looking truck how well did it pull that big trailer and do you plan on pulling it full with that truck?
Also what brand muffler is that and does it still have the one lower inside the frame rail?
Mount Soledad Cross in San Diego
God Bless America
David
70 M35A2 W/W
72 M109
71 M818 W/W
49 CJ2A
62 CJ5
77 Cher 401
88 YJ
98 K2500 Sub 6.5 T
84 M1009
86 M1031
M127A2
M107A2
M105A2
M101A2
M332
M969
M200A1Mod to Conv Dolly
3 Dollies
Rokon
M818 trip
