Cargo Van Class C in IL

tseders93 · Mar 1, 2016

Im not a n00b, however a friend of mine is looking to get his CDL-C with pass endorsement to team with me at panther, he went to take his written exam today and he said they had coupling questions (fifth wheel, etc..) aand other questions unrelated to the class at hand.

My question is, is this normal (i got my Class A to be done with it) in illinois at least or did the Dmv person screw up?

Greg · Mar 1, 2016

Pass endorsement? As in passenger endorsement? What do you drive?

Turtle · Mar 1, 2016

Panther requires a CDL of some kind, so for a Class C it could be Passenger or HAZMAT, either one.

As to the original question, yes, it's normal. The CDL general knowledge written test has everything from fifth wheel to bulk tanker to bridge law questions. I remember a bridge law question, but it wasn't any detail about it, it was a multiple choice question where you answered what bridge laws were. Like,
A - control traffic on a bridge
B - determine the maximum legal axle weight
C - apply only to bridges in California
D - can lower the maximum axle weight limit

Dynamite 1 · Mar 2, 2016

Class C in Illinois is an under 26,000 # license.

Greg · Mar 2, 2016

Turtle said:
Panther requires a CDL of some kind, so for a Class C it could be Passenger or HAZMAT, either one.

If it were me , I think I would go with HazMat. At least it might be useful. But, to each his own.

Turtle · Mar 2, 2016

Roamin said:
If it were me , I think I would go with HazMat. At least it might be useful. But, to each his own.

It's somewhat useful at Panther, but not like you'd think. If you have a HAZMAT endorsement they will allow you to haul HAZMAT, but only if it doesn't require placards (unless things have changed dramatically in the last 5 years). They won't put placarded HAZMAT on a cargo van. So you've got this nifty HAZMAT endorsement that is useless.

At least with a Passenger endorsement you can haul illegals up from Mexico. <snort>

The reason they won't put placarded HAZMAT on a cargo van is, of course, that requires the cargo van driver to log and scale while placarded, and what a nightmare that would be.

Greg · Mar 2, 2016

Turtle said:
At least with a Passenger endorsement you can haul illegals up from Mexico. <snort>

Or haul them back!

Treadmill · Mar 2, 2016

Turtle said:
It's somewhat useful at Panther, but not like you'd think. If you have a HAZMAT endorsement they will allow you to haul HAZMAT, but only if it doesn't require placards (unless things have changed dramatically in the last 5 years). They won't put placarded HAZMAT on a cargo van. So you've got this nifty HAZMAT endorsement that is useless.

At least with a Passenger endorsement you can haul illegals up from Mexico. <snort>

The reason they won't put placarded HAZMAT on a cargo van is, of course, that requires the cargo van driver to log and scale while placarded, and what a nightmare that would be.

Plus they would need to have DOT sleeper for that required break when they are logging.

tknight · Mar 2, 2016

Treadmill said:
Plus they would need to have DOT sleeper for that required break when they are logging.

Mandatory break could be sitting on a picnic table at a rest area sleeper isn't mandatory
Day cab tractors don't have sleepers so picnic table bed works