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According to Pa.Dot it doesn't matter wether your private,commercial,or other wize,you must be regestered for your Gross combination weight if you pull a licenced trailer and the combination weight exceedes the gross weight of your tow vehicle.IE: if you have a truck that has a GVW of 10,000lbs and are towing a trailer with the laden weight of i0,000lbs you should register yourtruck for a GCVW of 20,000lbs,Rembember also any trailer over 10,001lbs or any truck or truck and trailer exceeding 26,001lbs requires a CDL licence and a health card. Also you must have a statement from the mfg as to the max combo towing weight.IE: My Dodge 3500 is 12,200GVW with a max towing GCVW of 23,000.I can't register my truck any higher unless it is modified and certified to do so.It is all based on axles,tire contact patch,braking capabilities,and structual design.

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Now let me add one more worm to the can.

Make sure your tires on the trailer and truck are rated for the load you are carrying.

One of the things the DOT will do is go and look at the load rating of all the tires on the trailer and then compare that to the actual weight on the axles of the trailer and also the tow vehicle.

When I was stopped in Ohio at the westbound scales on I-70 pulling my 3-car wedge trailer with my F350 and was told to pull around back to be inspected. The first thing the DOT officer did was look at how I scaled and checked the rating on all the tires on my trailer and truck.

I failed the inspection due to the break-away battery was dead. I didnt' think about it someone had stolen the pin and cable from my break-away box. I always carry a spare so I didn't think anything about it when I just clipped in the spare and hooked up. Well not thinking that the whole time the pin was missing the electric brakes were energized and drained the battery.

As a result I was deemed "Out-of-Service aka OOS" by DOT till I went to the closest WalMart and got a replacement battery.

If you think it is difficult for racers....it is a real barrel of monkeys for the trucking companies expecially the small independent operators. This is part of the reason and the cost of fuel is why I am no longer in the auto transport business.

Every state is autonomous when it comes to transportation regulations. I have heard the saying, "Treat every state you enter like it is a seperate country." I was even told that by a Florida DOT officer while he was handing me my own personal gift of a $1000 fine for being over length with my F350 and 3-car wedge trailer.

The scary part is that I would have gotten the same ticket with my 32ft enclosed racecar trailer due to the way they interpreted the regulation on how they wrote me my fine. Any straight truck pulling a trailer over the length of 28ft requires an "over length" endorsement in Florida. The fine is $500 per a foot over the length of 28ft to the maximum of $1000.

The more and more I think about racing now.....going back to Amateur Radio is starting to look better and better.