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I learned something new today in Oklahoma.

donkey doctor

Senior Member
Joined
May 18, 2010
Messages
425
Location
Ladysmith bc canada
Occupation
retired
I got pulled in to the scalehouse in Kamloops one time to see my papers while driving a long deck Budget rental with a set of tracks on. I wasn't a truck driver just a dumb mechanic going to do a job. No air ticket. Told him it didn't have air brakes. Got to see this he says. Came out and poked his head under. Said he had never seen a truck that size that wasn't air. He did compliment me on the way I had the tracks tied down tho so I left feeling pretty good. D.D.
 

JD955SC

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 13, 2011
Messages
1,349
Location
The South
Guess that is one of the "problems" we can have in the way this country is set up with each state free to act like a separate country from all the others in many ways. It's a wonder some states don't try to have us driving on the left side of the road!

the problem is states try to screw over the working man for revenue. Think about all the hoops you have to jump through to open a business and keep it going it’s a racket.

My wife does business licenses for a small city here. The business license is just to allow you to run a business in the city. It does not guarantee a quality level- you can cheat customers as much as you want and they don’t care. It does not guarantee any kind of safety like a building code. It’s just a way for the city to charge you money to be allowed to operate in the city and the more money you make the more you pay.

furthermore, if say, you have a mobile mechanic service, landscaping, construction, etc type job you have to obtain a license just to do even a one day job in the city limits. It’s ridiculous. Her departments enforcement officer has even written a ticket to a guy volunteering to cut his churches grass the guy was just a member of the church and not a landscaper but they made him buy a business license. She told me that if I was to say, cut my great aunts grass I could be stopped by this enforcement guy and made to buy a license for doing that
 

BigWrench55

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2018
Messages
1,176
Location
Somewhere
the problem is states try to screw over the working man for revenue. Think about all the hoops you have to jump through to open a business and keep it going it’s a racket.

That is the whole irritant of this.
At first regulations were to protect us and now it's designed to fleece you of your hard earned money. I can't make a 100 bucks without 5 or 6 hands grabbing for it. :mad:
 

Moonlite

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 11, 2013
Messages
514
Location
Texas
Got the call yesterday evening that I was needed in Duvol,Oklahoma for a emergency repair. The emergency was I needed to install a o-ring. :rolleyes:
Well I didn't make it. I got shut down at the scale house. I recieved 8 tickets. Two are the same ticket twice. Apparently there are two entities that can write you tickets. My truck passed inspection. What they got me for to shut me down was driving a cmv without a cdl. In Texas I don't need a cdl to operate this truck. It's registered for under 26,000. The trooper tells me that federal law goes by the gvwr and not what it's registered for. So now I am waiting to be towed across the state line so that I can go home. This is the most expensive o-ring ever. :eek:
I’m down in the middle of Texas. I guess this is why local dot told me as long as I stayed around here I was fine, but if I crossed state lines he couldn’t help me
 

DMiller

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2010
Messages
16,430
Location
Hermann, Missouri
Occupation
Cheap "old" Geezer
I do not understand the Texas allowances to mechanics, no other state I am aware of allows mechanic to not have a CDL to test drive or pick and return equipment. Fed Rules were not written with such a caveat not giving room to maneuver around by each state. I worked with co workers long ago that had no Chauffer or CDL License and as a working foreman had to test drive their work, had mechanics that could perform work on HE and had no confidence in themselves to test operate either.
 

funwithfuel

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 7, 2017
Messages
5,518
Location
Will county Illinois
Occupation
Mechanic
When I worked on trucks, I had to maintain a CDL with air brake endorsements. Now that I play in the dirt and my truck GVW is 26k with an H plate, I don't have to, nor do I want to maintain a CDL if I'm not forced to.
If I'm not in the service truck, I drive like an @$$hole. I know it, I admit it. I speed . I get pinched, I pay a fine, go to driving school and I'm good to go. If I do that with a CDL , the costs grow exponentially. I don't drag a trailer, won't deliver equipment, I'm just a wrench. It's all I do. That other stuff is another man's job. I won't step on his toes and ask the same in return.
 

BigWrench55

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2018
Messages
1,176
Location
Somewhere
I don't think that it is allowed. I was told that we don't have to stop at the scales. And that's why I haven't been caught. Any trooper will know that my truck is cdl territory and could've stopped me anytime. I keep my truck clean and I don't let crap collect in the back, you can see the floor in back. So it's probably been a case of it looks good so it is probably good. When I hired on and moved into this truck I had thought that I shouldn't be driving this truck. My first clue was the air brakes. But I ignored my gut instincts and chalked it off to the fact that this company is overly cautious about everything. So why would they let me illegally drive this truck. I learned a lot this weekend and I should've known better to ignore my instincts.
 

DMiller

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2010
Messages
16,430
Location
Hermann, Missouri
Occupation
Cheap "old" Geezer
FWF, the license plate rating has Nothing to do with the GVWR of the machine, IF it is OVER 26K GVWR(NOT License weight) you are still required to have a CDL and especially with Air Brakes on it. Can put a Auto License on a Pete Tractor if want to, still has exceeded GVWR and has Air brakes requiring a CDL to operate on roadways.
 

BigWrench55

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2018
Messages
1,176
Location
Somewhere
I like to drive fast and do crazy things in my personal vehicle and that is the main reason I don't want a cdl. The other reason is that I worked in construction for a long time. And if I had a cdl I would be doing a lot more than turning wrenches.
Hey... when you get done putting the tracks back on. Could you load it up and haul it to the job site? Steve didn't come in this morning and we need that dozer on site today.:rolleyes:
 

Crummy

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2017
Messages
918
Location
Idaho
When I was OTR HH and 100% legal I would trip plan when I was hauling post holes to avoid the POE scales in any state if I could those guys are a PITA and paid to be that way- it's their job. If it's got an inspection shed & pit you'd better have your s**t right n tight. I'm close to 3 other states and have been asked to "hop over" do work there- hard pass. Here it's <26K roll past the scales (I'm 25,500 on the service truck) & I went to an Intrastate CDL- works for me and the other states can do what they want. I'm not a big fan of making DOT "equal" between the sates so that I can be equally miserable.
 

Mike L

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2010
Messages
1,897
Location
Texas
Occupation
Self employed field mechanic
When I worked at the dealership we were running 33k service trucks. I was the only one with a class a license and everyone else had class b. We weren’t allowed to cross state lines or haul a trailer because we weren’t registered for it except when the dealer needed us to go into the next state or haul some tracks or a bucket or a mini excavator. Then it was “don’t get caught”. I had a couple d.o.t safety checks but we ran nice equipment and every time I went through the weigh stations I was just waved through.
 

BigWrench55

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2018
Messages
1,176
Location
Somewhere
We have customers in all surrounding states and I have worked in all of them except for Louisiana. I asked my boss why we didn't register the trucks for interstate d.o.t.
I didn't get a answer. I did find that it is legal for me to drive this truck in Texas because they are registered for under 26k. It is not legal for me in any other state. My best guess is if we registered the trucks for interstate d.o.t.
Then the trucks would fall under c.m.v. rules and regulations. All I know is that they knew it wasn't legal for me to leave Texas and had me do it several times. This time I got caught. And I am still a little pissed that they put me in this situation.
 

BigWrench55

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2018
Messages
1,176
Location
Somewhere
Two tickets for no registration. One from the o.c.c. and the other from a Oklahoma state trooper. Two tickets for driving interstate with intrastate d.o.t. registration. Again one from the o.c.c. and the other from the Oklahoma state trooper. No valid insurance, operating a c.m.v. without a c.d.l. No medical card and I can't think of the 8th ticket at the moment.
 

heymccall

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2007
Messages
5,349
Location
White Oak, Pa
Help me clarify what happened here.

I drive a 26k mechanics truck with air brake, and a USDot number.
I am not required to have a CDL.
I am required to have a log book, medical card, current registration, fire extinguisher, and road side triangles.

What is different about your situation?
 

BigWrench55

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2018
Messages
1,176
Location
Somewhere
As far as I know it depends on what your state allows, but if you cross the border into another state then you are held to the federal standard of operating a c.m.v.
Some of this is my fault. The truck is registered but one of the times that I cleaned my truck. I think that I kept last year's registration and threw away the current registration paperwork.
I have a medical card, but I couldn't find that either. And the trooper said that there wasn't anything in the system for my medical card. The insurance I think he was being a dick and wrote it because I didn't have a c.d.l.
I normally respect the badge, but these guys were very unprofessional and very rude. I can certainly understand the animosity towards the police if this is how they act. I am not one to be bullied or pushed around. And I am not afraid to put you in your place if you step out of line. When this is over I will look strongly in pressing charges for oppression.
 
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