What Do I Need To Do To Get My Truck Registered In Utah

Practice y'all demand a CDL for this blazon of towing? It depends on why you are towing this trailer and your job. (Photo courtesy Ford Motor Co.)

There are a lot of controversial things in the truck world, such as which brand is ameliorate, towing with a half-ton or an Hard disk and how to properly tow a load. However, none of these even comes close to the topic of a CDL for a new Hard disk drive truck or RV.

The fact is new trucks, such as the 2021 Ram 3500, are challenge maximum towing numbers in the 35,000-pounds-plus range with Big, Assuming NUMBERS on billboards and dealership signage. This is causing a lot of concern, and misinformation is rampant with anecdotal stories existence turned into "that must be" the police force.

Here's the truth.

What is a CDL, and who administers it?

A commercial driver'due south license (CDL) is a special license provided by the local state Section of Motor Vehicle's role, which follows the law set downward in the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. You can find this regulation, in all of its legal speak glory, on the Electronic Lawmaking of Federal Regulations website. You tin can likewise find a handy FAQ about the CDL license on the FMCA website as well.

In a nutshell, the standard applies a special license type to individuals conducting commercial business organization with their vehicle (a very of import part) and breaks this license into 3 parts – Class A, Class B and Class C. These classes are separated by what the vehicle is, what it is capable of towing (aka gross vehicle weight rating of 26,001 pounds or more than), what information technology could tow with it in terms of a 10,001-pound trailer (aka gross combined vehicle weight rating), how many people the vehicle is transporting or whether or non yous'll be transporting hazardous materials.

While this seems uncomplicated enough, it isn't then simple since individual states can assign their own special rules to a CDL, and there are exceptions — like the farmer exception I'll comprehend in a infinitesimal.

Be certain to contact your local DMV to decide if there are special licenses needed for your state as well as understand the information in this article.

Determining if you need a CDL

While the rules seem straightforward, the interpretation of them is murky at all-time. You'll find all sorts of answers to CDL license question if you go downwards the Google rabbit hole long enough.

And then, here's the truth: Information technology depends. That'south why information technology is murky.

The depends comes down to why you are towing, how much y'all are towing and what you lot are towing with.

FMCSA put together this handy image to guide law enforcement as well to help people make up one's mind whether they demand a CDL. Look it over before moving on.

This visual chart is pretty handy from the FMCSA and helps analyze who actually needs a CDL. (Photograph provided by FMSCA)

Recreation or commercial towing?

The first identify to start with answering the CDL question, is the type of towing you are doing. Let's say you lot are towing an RV camper to a lake. Are you doing this to get paid? And then, no, no matter what weight, what country or what truck you are using, you don't demand a CDL.

Let's go over that again and this is a key question: Are you lot towing for compensation, equally part of a chore, to get paid? If the answer is no, so terminate reading, tell your friends they are wrong and move along.

The FMCSA specifically addresses this in its FAQ with question #3.

CDL truth

Recreation or commercial use is the key question when determining if yous need a CDL. The FMCSA FAQ page answers this clearly. (Screenshot FMCSA website)

Simple enough.

What about weights and the 10,001-pound trailer?

Let's say you are, in fact, towing for work OR your neighbor is going to give yous a $100 to motility his camper to the lake OR you are just curious nigh all the other language in the law.

Let's start with the top prototype in the chart since this seems to provide the virtually confusion. The first statement is "any combination of vehicles with a GCWR of 26,001 or more pounds provided the GVWR of the vehicles being towed is in backlog of 10,000 lbs."

What does that really mean? Start, let'southward define the terms GCWR (gross combined weight rating) and GVWR (gross vehicle weight rating). The GCWR is basically adding up all the GVWR weights from whatever you are towing. This is dissimilar than curb weight (the scale weight of the vehicle) and instead this is the maximum weight the vehicle tin can handle.

Let'southward put this in practical terms looking at towing charts like the 2021 Ford RV & Trailer Towing Guide.

In the chart below, you can encounter the F-350 and F-450 dual-rear wheel trucks separated out by engine, beam ratio, GCWR and length. You tin can besides see the confusion since the diesel fuel trucks accept a GCWR more 26,001 poundswhile the gas engine trucks do non — except for the seven.3-liter 5-8 with the 4.xxx rear beam.

The 2021 Ford F-350/F-450 towing nautical chart. (Screenshot from Ford Armada)

Again, we demand to first with kickoff: Are you towing commercially or recreationally? Second, we have to look at the trailer since that matters likewise.

Allow's say I have a crew cab, iv×4 6.seven-liter V-8 turbo diesel Ford F-350 with a iv.30 rear axle and my max GCWR is 43,500 pounds with a max trailer tow of 24,200 pounds. Now this truck would be driven by someone with a CDL if, again IF, the trailer or vehicle or whatever I'm towing has a GVWR exceeding 10,000 pounds.

In practical terms, let's say I desire to tow my race motorcar to another country with my truck for a fun day on the track. First, since we already established it isn't for piece of work, we can move on to pace 2, the weight. The truck's GCWR is our outset red flag indication nosotros may need to consider a CDL and side by side would be the trailer GVWR. Pulling upward an example on Pro-Line Trailer Sales website, I plant a 8.5×16 enclosed trailer. This trailer has a max GVW aka GVWR of 7,000 pounds. This ways, I would not demand a CDL based on the weight issue.

Towing this car hauler with a diesel F-350 would not require a CDL even IF you lot were not doing it commercially. (Screenshot Pro-Line Trailer website)

Pretty straightforward to understand you need both the truck's GCWR and the trailer GVWR. Go along in mind, a trailer more than 10,001 pounds is a pretty sizable trailer, and those trailers are sold with the GVW in listen for transporting heavy equipment like on the Pro-Line Trailer website with the GVW listed in the title of the trailer.

You tin see how the trailers marked with a higher GVW await like they are for construction equipment and this is key when thinking near needing a CDL. (Screenshot from Pro-Line Trailer website)

Finally, keep in mind, nosotros are merely talking about ane-ton trucks with diesel engines and not one/2-ton or 3/4-ton trucks. That is key as well since many of those other trucks don't have a high enough GCWR to fifty-fifty enter the CDL license discussion.

What about a large Class A or 5th-wheel RV?

Another common question that comes up with CDLs has to do with the large Form A RV buses like in size to a semi-truck and big 5th-wheel RVs. These vehicles accept grown in size dramatically over the years, and the trucks to tow them too accept vastly higher tow ratings than they did only a decade ago. Do you need a CDL for those?

The simple reply is no CDL. Why? Recollect the part most recreation vs. commercial? Aye, this is the key question.

However, the longer answer is: It depends on your weight every bit outdoorsy.com points out.

Most RVs are less than the CDL weight threshold and, more importantly, are used for recreation. (Image courtesy of Outdoorsy.com)

As the prototype points out, most Grade A motorhomes (the really big ones) have a weight between 13,000-thirty,000 pounds. This means you would just need a Course B license if you were driving this commercially. Then, Grandad and Grammie can go buy a huge RV weighing close to 30k pounds — about the size of a semi — and drive it without a CDL.

Smaller Class C RVs weigh effectually 10,000-12,000 pounds, and you wouldn't need a CDL if you were traveling recreationally — even if yous had found a way to double this weight past pulling a ten,001-pound trailer equally well. Think: Redneck towing.

Farmer exception?

I of the nearly mutual exceptions to the CDL law has to practice with farmers. Basically, the Federal Government gave them a complimentary pass to lower their brunt on having a CDL license.

It substantially states if a farmer transports his goods less than 150 miles away from his subcontract, he doesn't need a CDL. The thought behind this is pretty elementary — to permit the farmers to bring in the crops to distribution centers without needing a CDL.

This is a overnice perk for the farmer.

The bottom line

Don't become defenseless upwards in what someone said "that in one case" or that y'all heard someone say a trailer or a truck that can tow 35,000 pounds MUST take a CDL. Remember the master question is recreation vs. commercial. Answering this question first can reduce a lot of the confusion right off the bat.

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