Excellent info on weights

[richfaa]

Felt I had to copy this post from RVnet, This is a guy who has the credentials to comment and the info is educational.

"It has been debated before but I have yet to see anyone with any enforcement experience comment on the subject.

Then you haven't done a search on the topic. I have responded on this topic several times. I've responded so many times that I've about given up responding to anything involving weights. The topic is brought up every second Tuesday and everytime someone responds who has no knowledge of the laws but just repeats the same old campfire stories which are flat out wrong.

I am a retired state police commander. I commanded a district which had the highest fine producing fixed scales in the state. In additiona I was one of 2 of the first Troops in the state to be certified as motor carrier safety inspectors. By IL statute only the ISP has the authority to conduct MCS inspections. I taught truck weight and MCS law at our academy. Over the years I weighed a lot of trucks. I also weighed a lot of RVs of various styles, not because of the law but because the RVers asked to be weighed to have their loading checked. Never ever saw any of them even come close to approaching max legal weights.
Simple answer to your question. The sticker on your truck is placed there by the manufacturer. It's like the tag on your mattress. It's required by law to tell the consumer what is in that product. After sales that sticker doesn't have to remain on the vehicle and there are a lot of vehicles legally on the road today which no longer has the sticker because of body repair, etc. The manufacturers do not make the laws. Think about this too. Do you think every Troop or weigh master out there has memorized what all the manufacturers stickers say on every style of truck made? Then toss into the mix 4X4 v 4X2, same model trucks but with different engines, same model trucks but with different axle ratings, or same model trucks but just different years. We don't care what the sticker says or even if there is a sticker. What the manufacturers put on that sticker is not law, it's just a to let the consumer know what that particular vehicle's design specs are.
The max weight laws are generally 20K on a single axle, 34K on a tandum axle and gross is 80K. These are federally mandated limits. I say "generally" because gross depends on the bridge length of your vehicle (distance between the front and rear axle) and the number of axles. The 34K can also vary depending the distance between the tandum axles. It could be more. Weight limits may also be posted less than the max on certain roads.
As an RVer you don't have to worry about exceeding the 20K single axle, 34K tandum axle, and 80K gross. There's no way you are going to be anywhere close to any of those numbers. Think about it. On your 5er you put 16" E range tires on a 5K or 6K rated axle. Your suspension and tires wouldn't handle 20K or 34K loads. And no way are you getting anywhere close to 20K on the steer or drive axle on your pickup. Your Big Country doesn't even come close to approaching 34K on the tandums. Your entire rig is likely to be about 20K total. You could not load your 5er and 2500 with enough toys to get close to exceeding the weight limits.


adamrmathis wrote:

What would a LEO know about the law? LEO's only enforce it and they are subect to the same errors the rest of us are. Our lawyers and judges can't even decide on what is right or wrong, and now you want an opinion from a LEO? I'm no trying to bash any LEO's, just tring to point out that being a LEO doesn't make one correct.

Just so you'll know, as a LEO I sat on quite a few trials involving overweights where my only role was to advise the prosecuting attorney on the law and provide expert testimony on weight law. I have also been contacted numerous times by judges for clarification on weight laws.
So what do LEOs know about the law? FYI, many of us not only have been tasked with writing statutes but we also review and comment on many of the statutes prior to passage. Many of us have been declared as subject matter experts by the courts and legislatures. Before a person can enforce the law they have to know not only what it says but also what it means. So what do LEOs know about the law? We work with it every day of our lives. What does an electrician know about electricity? What does a welder know about metals? What does a doctor know about medicine? It's all the same kind of thing. You have to know about your profession if you expect to be able to do it.
So what's the average person know about the law? Truthfully and sadly absolutely nothing. Their entire knowledge of the law is from watching TV and the movies. From that vast "experience" many consider themselves experts.

* This post was edited 11/12/07 10:17am by Wadcutter *