Scaling

[60MPH]

Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) means a motor vehicle or combination of motor vehicles used in commerce to transport passengers or property if the motor vehicle—

(1) Has a gross combination weight rating or gross combination weight of 11,794 kilograms or more (26,001 pounds or more), whichever is greater, inclusive of a towed unit(s) with a gross vehicle weight rating or gross vehicle weight of more than 4,536 kilograms (10,000 pounds), whichever is greater; or

(2) Has a gross vehicle weight rating or gross vehicle weight of 11,794 or more kilograms (26,001 pounds or more), whichever is greater; or

(3) Is designed to transport 16 or more passengers, including the driver; or

(4) Is of any size and is used in the transportation of hazardous material (HAZMAT) as defined by 49 U.S.C. 5103 and is required to be placarded under subpart F of 49 CFR Part 172 or is transporting any quantity of a material listed as a select agent or toxin in 42 CFR Part 73.


A Commercial Vehicle is any vehicle titled or registered to a company, corporation or other business entity, and can include (in addition to CMVs), fleet vehicles, company cars, and other vehicles used for business, including vehicles used for business but is in an individual's name such as a sole proprietor, and leased vehicles registered in the name of the financial institution that owns it.


So, basically, a Commercial Vehicle is any vehicle used in business, and a Commercial Motor Vehicle is any vehicle subject to regulation by the DOT. The two terms are not interchangeable. This information is part of the basic knowledge set for your job. It is the foundation on which your business is built. Those who are driving in the transportation industry without knowing whether they are driving a Commercial Motor Vehicle have no business in this business.

Thanks for posting Turtle. I agree with you last sentence.

Unfortunately most weigh stations say Commercial Vehicle, Trucks must enter. Not many say Commercial Motor Vehicle must enter.

I don't know why so many people think the scale is operated by the DOT or FMCSA

For those that don't know the weigh stations are owned by the state and operated by the state. Like in VA. the DMV (department of motor vehicles) are the one's that run the scales and they have regular state troopers and motor carrier enforcement qualified state troopers (know to some as DOT officers) operate them and enforce the laws.

Not entering a scale in VA. is a Citation from Va. for Failure to Stop.

The States set the Laws for what is and what is not a TRUCK, like in VA. A truck is anything with a registered GVW above 7500 lbs. My old 2500 Dodge pick up had TRUCK plates from VA. even though it was only used for personal business.

Being a TRUCK does not mean you are a Commercial Motor Vehicle or even a Commercial Vehicle. If I work at McDonald's and drove this van to a from work everyday in VA. I would legally have to cross the scales, due to my registered GVW. Stupid YES, but a law is a law.

 

[AMonger]

There's that Canadian mentality showing ... or is it that pickle mentality?

I think if the feds are going to police the roads, then they should make all vehicles used for commercial purposes regulated the same exact way.

No national standard from the feds, let the states decide based on their needs.

Oh, hey-ell no! That's the way it used to be. But it was an absolute mess, with each state having their own weight and length limits. Fortunately, the STAA was passed, creating uniform standards on the interstates and a 5 mile zone around them. I'm all for keeping the feds in DC where they sorta belong, but there's no way commerce can function with 48 different standards on the mainland.

--

You know the problem with bad cops? They make the other 5% look bad.

 

[Turtle]

I'm with Greg - it's time to make pizza delivery drivers log, have a medical card, and have an anchovy endorsement on their PDL.

 

[chefdennis]

One other thing that came to mind today as i did my monthly maintainance reports to send to SAFETY & COMPLIANCE...

For those of us that are leased to a carrier, every unit that falls under the FED Regulations and need to be "compliant", are normally required to keep the "carrier" totally aware of all compliance issues as the CARRIER is 100% RESPONSIBLE for YOUR compliance...most carriers even have complete departments to deal with compliance issues daily....

Now that being said, if this were a FED issue and not a State b State issue, do you really think all of these companies would have all of these under 10,001 GVW units running around the country side and not have them be in compliance?? NO, they wouldn't...

I can tell you that while i was at my previous carrier, a 9900 gvw srw cube was stopped and issued a ticket for not stopping at the scale IN MICHIGAN on I-75 just north of Toledo...The lady that runs the safety and compliance department (and she has been in thebusiness for more yrs then most of us been in the business) told the driver not to pay it and that thecompanies lawyers would go to curt in Detroit with him....the ticket was tossed....and for those that say no, yes it was tossed because there was no reason for the ticket.. Any of you can PM me and ill gladly give you the name of the lady that handled it and she will gladly talk with you about it....

So as I said, in the 5 yrs out here, i hav been on 2 scales, don't scale now and won't be anytime soon in any state...

Now where is that Fed mandated "Do Not Remove Under The Penalty of Law" mattress tag ??? Oh dang, as the owner, I CAN remove that tag!!! But i should keep it in a "safe place"....

 

[pearlpro]

Yes I drive a 26 foot Straight truck with a 3000lb Liftgate, its a Freightliner M2 but weighs less in at the 26000 lb mark, I obey the Scale Open/Closed sign, many states have varying numbers I basically would rather be safe then sorry. Im going to Prepass system very quickly. Ive never had a bad experience with a scale, I keep the papers in good order in a notebook I made that I use with all my Registrations, Insurance, Med Card etc and Logs and Load inside it makes it very easy to show and sort etc. Ive passed a couple of the DOT inspections its nothing to fear if your legal and you run legal.

 

[Moot]

Just so's you know: The GVWR of my 2500 is 8550 lbs. At least, that's according to the lie on the door-jam sticker.

mjm, I apologize. I got the 7300 GVWR for a 2500 from a 2004 spec sheet. I'm thinking it was a misprint because the weight wasn't much over the 1500's GVWR.
.

 

[mjmsprt40]

mjm, I apologize. I got the 7300 GVWR for a 2500 from a 2004 spec sheet. I'm thinking it was a misprint because the weight wasn't much over the 1500's GVWR.
.

Not much of a need for an apology, Moot. They sold these vehicles with a few different weight ratings, as I remember back when I was driving Fords. You could get either a light 2500 (which probably has the 7300 rating) or the heavy 2500 which would have the 8550 rating. I got the heavy one. When you buy used, like most of us do in this business, the only way to know for sure is the door sticker.

 

[60MPH]

Not much of a need for an apology, Moot. They sold these vehicles with a few different weight ratings, as I remember back when I was driving Fords. You could get either a light 2500 (which probably has the 7300 rating) or the heavy 2500 which would have the 8550 rating. I got the heavy one. When you buy used, like most of us do in this business, the only way to know for sure is the door sticker.

Yep 6 lugs on the light 2500's and 8 lugs on the heavy 2500's. And usually had the 4l80E in the heavy's and the 4l60E in the lights, and a few other things where different as well

 

[chefdennis]

The HD has "full Floating" rear axles and can be un-bolted and removed and the axle bearings are in the end of the axle housing, the light duty as "semi floating" and to remove the axles you need to remove the diff cover and remove the a bolt, pin and "c" clips....bearings are pressed onto the axle....