Laws about Motorhome towing a trailer PLEASE HELP (1 Viewer)

[Greg]

There's another discussion going on about this on another board i visit, but it doesn't have near as much traffic, so I'm hoping I can get an answer here a bit faster.

I'm buying a 38' Diesel pusher motorhome that I am supposed to go pick up this week. Someone else mentioned on the thread over there that the law in most states is a 65' maximum length. It kinda freaked me out, because I had never even considered that until it was brought up. I got to thinking about it, and with my 24' trailer, I was thinking I'm safe, but then when I measured the tongue length as well it would put me at 66'. Add a Trailer Toad to it, and I'm at 68'.

I'm in Texas, and I looked up online, and it does indeed say 65' maximum length for vehicle and trailer combined, infact that's what it says for all but about 6 states, some are even less. Does anyone know if that is just for commercial vehicles, or do motorhomes apply too? I will call them tomorrow morning, but just wanted to know if anyone else has run into any problems with being stopped for being overlength. I definitely don't want to get pulled over somewhere and have to leave my trailer and come back to get it with my truck.

Just curious what experiences others may have had with this. There seems to be a lot of big motorhomes out there at most races pulling 28' and 32' trailers, and I doubt most of those motorhomes are much less than 36'. I know the law is the law, but I was just wondering if anyone here has been pulled over for being overlength. I didn't see anywhere on the Texas DOT site about getting an overlength permit, like you have to in Florida. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'd also be interested in knowing how long some of the combinations are that some of you are pulling. After i thought about it, I was wondering if I would be too long for the pit spots at most of the big tracks as well. LOL

 

["Dr. Dirt"]

You've stepped in it now!
This topic comes up every year or so and never really gets answered satisfactorily. I believe it's due to ambiguous US DOT/State law conflicts. I'm pretty sure there is no easy answer but I do know this: There are many roads that preclude certain length units, commercial or private coaches, passage. Usually these roads are clearly posted with a max length. Our Kenworth has a small lounge and hooked to our race trailer we are 64' 9" by design because when I built it, nobody could answer me either. I called the US Dept. of Transportation and got a very detailed formula which basically said no more than 53' trailer length despite the length of the towing vehicle if using a king pin. I called Arizona and California DOT and Highway Patrols and got more formulas and "That's a very good question"s than I could believe.

I decided to start measuring rigs on the road. At the truck stops, most stop at or near 65'. At the races, however, I've seen rigs that near 90' time and again. Heck, Loren Jones' NM based rig is just over 90' as I calculated. V Gaines is in the trucking business and insists that you can pull 56' trailers and a couple race trailer manufacturers now offer them with a caution about traveling East of the Mississippi? Go figure?

If you get a definitive answer, I'd sure like to hear it since we intend to build a new, full length stacker in the next year and I'd rather not travel illegally.

 

[Nitrohaulic]

I'm so familiar with where I run that I don't even spend the extra bucks for Rand McNally's "Motor Carrier" atlas anymore. It's easy to just look through one on the shelf at any major truck stop. The dimensions charts for each state are in the first few pages. I know it's more than 65', because the vast majority of semi-trailers you see are 53', and that would only leave 12' from front of the trailer to front of the truck's bumper, and I don't think any sleeper truck could be that short.

 

[Hutch]

Go to Byron's Gasser Madness! there's info on there about Towing Information & US Department of Transportation Regulations.

Byron Stack has given me permission to post this on here. Hope it helps.

 

[rocketman]

If you are towing a 24 foot trailer and there's no advertising on the trailer you have nothing to worry about.

I have a 43 foot goose pulled by a chevy dulley and it's a rolling billboard on wheels. I think I'm safe in Oregon and Washington as I have never have been pulled over but I'm told that California and Texas is a whole nother story. 2300 lbs is the magic number. Anything over that and you need to weigh.

I know guys with big freightliner toters and trailers that haven't been pulled over yet. But I'm guessing there time will come.

 

["Dr. Dirt"]

If you are towing a 24 foot trailer and there's no advertising on the trailer you have nothing to worry about.

I have a 43 foot goose pulled by a chevy dulley and it's a rolling billboard on wheels. I think I'm safe in Oregon and Washington as I have never have been pulled over but I'm told that California and Texas is a whole nother story. 2300 lbs is the magic number. Anything over that and you need to weigh.

I know guys with big freightliner toters and trailers that haven't been pulled over yet. But I'm guessing there time will come.

Rich, I believe the magic number is 26000 lbs. Anything over and you must have a CDL unless your coach qualifies as a motor home.

The bottom line is that none of the officers really know these laws (especially since state laws vary so much) and they really don't care about educating themselves. I have asked a number of officers personally and have spent many HOURS calling authorities to get to the bottom of the law for our rig and I can't find two with the same story.

 

[Greg]

Rich, I believe the magic number is 26000 lbs. Anything over and you must have a CDL unless your coach qualifies as a motor home.

The bottom line is that none of the officers really know these laws (especially since state laws vary so much) and they really don't care about educating themselves. I have asked a number of officers personally and have spent many HOURS calling authorities to get to the bottom of the law for our rig and I can't find two with the same story.

Well, what I am getting should definitely qualify as a motorhome.

I'm just going to take the chance. My 24' trailer has no lettering on it, and from what I've been reading the last few days, I should be ok.

 

[rocketman]

OK I stand corrected. That's even better! The gentleman with the motorhome has nothing to worry about. Those coaches with an unlettered trailer are a dime a dozen going up and down the freeway.