Big Trailer - Bigger Tickets?

I just bought a 32" tandem dual gooseneck trailer to haul my restored tractors to the shows. I was wondering how bad the DOT guys like seeing us drive around with three (or maybe more) fixed up old tractors on a farm tagged trailer? Or do they not pay much attention?

If the tractors are not for sale, you may have a problem. Then again, you may not. Depends on which DOT officer sees you.

I once got ticketed for towing a stock car on a trailer with a pickup with farm plates on it. A race car is considered to be a revenue producing piece of equipment, and to tow in on a public road you need commercial plates on the tow vehicle. However, the officer who hung the paper on me was a known butthead.

I mentioned it to a State Trooper I knew and he replied, "That's the law, no getting around it. I personally think a verbal warning is appropriate the first time".

See what someone else says.

Lots of what the DOT thinks depends on the DOT officer,what state he is in,and how bad his day has been up until then.Besides that your attitude towards the DOT man and how you act is the rest of it usually.If somebody pulling a tandem axle dual wheeled trailer with 4 tractors on it just ran over a school bus and killed 10 people,you might as well get ready for a long day,lots of tickets and abuse.Another thing that ticks them off is bald tires,smoke coming off of the brakes and wheel seals leaking,brakes out of adjustment,lights not working.Any of that stuff could be the start of a long expensive day that you dont ever want to have the experience of.

Well they are deffinately not for sale. Unless the ticket is high enough then I might have to! I was afraid of that most of the DOT's around here are decent kind of guys, I run a septic business and get checked somtimes and they dont drill me too hard, but the laws are the laws I suppose!

around here that farm tag is only good for a ten mile radus wife got a ticket the other day from a super trooper or thats what he thought he was farm tag was on a car and he said cars cant get farm tags and a few other things to make a long story short. showed states attorney the prof we had for court and she had all charges droped before it got in court room but the fine was for 280 dollars good think we were in the right

They way I look at it. My trailer is registered farm use for 27,000 lbs which ill never go over, its DOT inspected, I have my Commercial license and even though they are show tractors, they really are farm equipment, Now where im hauling them to may not be a farm but the Troopers dont know that!

My "family member" used to haul overweight loads in the middle of the night and would not stop for any DOT vehicles. He always carried a gun with him and managed to get away with a lot of traffic violations. Of course, he's in prison now for a few months, but he gathers quite enough cash for "express deliveries" under the law. He's the man you want to go to for something "illegal."

Unless you're that hardheaded like my "family member" is, you'll be fine showing proper documentation for your registration and weight of the vehicle.

Goose,

Had to laugh at your reply about the police officer making the statement about the stock car being a money making enterprise, most exdrivers would beg to differ, stock cars are money pits true and true, but sure are fun.

So if a stockcar was considered a revenue producing peice of equipment....I guess if the antique tractors being hauled were headed for a tractor pull, they would also be considered revenue producing pieces of equipment?

I'll be the 1st one to agree that tractor pulling makes (loses) just as much money as a racecar, but wouldnt they be in the same category?

Technically, they do produce income. Only thing is, the income never comes near covering the expenses.

And you're right, they sure are fun! I've said our racing days were fun while they lasted, but I'm not sure I could survive a second time around.

What are you pulling it with? Trouble will find you if its a single rear wheel 3/4 ton

It may be myth, but I've read of folks who beat the issue of being engaged in commerce by producing a letter from the IRS. Seems they were including their losses from their racing/pulling enterprise for so long without ever showing a profit that IRS disallowed their deductions and said that their activities were a hobby, meaning it was all personal, household activity and not an act of commerce. Anything they received by way of prizes was not reportable as income and no further deductions were allowed. That one letter got a whole stack of tickets thrown out and the sstate got stuck with the towing and storage charges for the impounded trailer.

Great story. UNfortunately, such tickets are for civil offenses and innocent until proven guilty doesn't apply as it does in criminal cases. The officer that pulls you over is free to write al the tickets he wants. If any of them are based on you being in commercial operation, it's up to you to prove that you are not.

The really sad part is that a lot of police/sheriff/DOT departments hire lawyers to come in and school their officers on some pretty questionable definitions of what constitutes compensation and commercial operation. Something as trivial as winning a third-place yellow ribbon at a tractor show, even with no monetary prize attached, they will argue, is compensation, and subjects you to all the requirements for commercial operation. They'll go so far as to say that if the show awarded only ribbons or a trophy to the best entries and you didn't win a thing, it is still commercial because you could have won.

Pretty sad. 99% of it has nothing to do with highway safety and everything to do with revenue.

If you"re over 10K CGVWR and involved in a commercial enterprise you come under DOT regs. Whether you have an exemption depends as much on your State laws as anything else. In NYS for example the state legislature adopted the Federal Regs en masse so even farmers don"t get an out anymore.

I spent the last 5 years of my career as a DOT Inspector. I suggest your best course of action is to contact your State Police and get guidance from them as local laws may or may not get you out of DOT Inspections.