Phil Waterman wrote:
>By the way if you drive an antique military truck you will
>likely get stopped by the police. More often than not it is just out of
>curiosity in 20 years of driving very strange military vehicles I have been
>stopped about once a year, never have been given a ticket.
I haven't be driving my truck for 20 years, but I have been driving it for
about 8. I have NEVER been stopped! First, I believe that most if not all
the police in our area just think we're part of the National Guard or
something. I have been followed, passed, and behind all sorts of police
vehicles at one time or another. (city, county, and state.) If I make eye
contact we just wave and go our separate ways but most of the time they just
blow by. I have driven in major cities to country roads, to interstate
highways, and never once had a problem.
>The road test may be a bit more of
>challenge, make sure the truck you use to take the test will pass
>inspection. Remember that to get a CDL to drive 3 axles you need to take
>the test in a truck over 26,000 GVW with 3 axles. The first time I went
for
>the test I was driving a truck that was "to small for the test" according
to
>the inspector. So I went and borrowed a 10 wheel dump truck.
That's not the way it is in Texas. Axle configuration has nothing to do with
a CDL license. The state police and the Texas department of Transportation
classify vehicles in to classes. Basically, we have two very general classes
in medium and heavy duty trucks. That's straight and combination. Straight
trucks are your buses, panel, dump, bobtail, cement mixers, deuce and a
halfs. Combination trucks are vehicles which have a powered unit and a towed
unit which is over 10,000 pounds, like your typical 18 wheelers. Then there
are basically classes for weight. Class C is for your everyday car or
pickup. Class B is generally your straight trucks. Class A are generally
your combination trucks. I.E. you can use your class C license to rent a
straight truck from Ryder or U-haul to move your household goods. All these
trucks weight less than 26,001 pounds. However, once you go over that 26,001
pounds, your class C license will need to be upgraded to a class B license.
Most class B licenses are even good to drive a small tractor(a tractor in
this sense is the powered unit of a combination truck, I.E. the truck part
of an 18 wheeler) provided that the tractor doesn't weight more than 26,001
pound. Also note that CDL means Commercial Drivers License. You can get all
these classes in a Non CDL form which allows you to drives these vehicles
but, you can't for money only personal use. I.E. Not For Hire. As long as
you take the driving portion of the test in a vehicle at least the
equivalent or bigger for the class that your testing in, there should be no
problems.
Ken Weiss
1953 XM211 2 1/2 ton troop/cargo truck "Deuces are Wild"
1954 XM105E3 1 1/2 ton cargo trailer
Secretary, Newsletter Editor, and Webmaster
Lone Star MVPA and "The Transfer Case"
Check out our new web site
http://www.geocities.com/motorcity/pit/4393/index.html
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