Flatbeds GVWR

[duer]

Hello,
This is my second post but my first thread. I've been reading and looking a lot around here but never really felt I've have anything to input.
I'm the head grounds keeper at a small school dist. here in westen wa.
My question is this: are you breaking the law if you go past your trucks factory stamped GVWR? we have a '78 Chev duelly with a 12' faltbed dump,
the GVWR is 9,000. But it also says front GVW 3,700 and rear 7,000
which is 10,700? We have it lic. for I think 12,000 but the bus mech. here
says we are breaking the law and has repainted 9,000 on the side of the truck.
The probem here is the truck weighs like 7,000 empty. I often run 5,000 of load in this thing with no problem at all. It seems to stop and handle it fine.

Thanks Wayne
BTW I love this site you guys are great.

[TXNSLighting]

Yeh its illegal, but only if you get caught! That was probably the worst advice ever. ha!

[duer]

Thanks,
I dont think I'll will worry about it to much. I was just kinda wondering what you guys do.

[hosejockey2002]

Since you are in Washington, the GVWR of your truck is not legally binding as long as your truck is licensed for the weight you carry. My Chevy 2500HD is licensed for 12K, although I won't run it nearly that heavy. As long as I didn't exceed my tire ratings it would be legal per the state however.

On the other hand, since this is a publicly owned vehicle (school district), I would think that your district MAY be open to increased liability if one of your trucks gets in an accident and you are over your factory rated GVWR. The fire department that I work for discovered a few years ago that some of our aid cars were over their factory GVWR. After talking to our legal counsel, the aid cars were taken out of service and surplused. If I were you I'd bring it up with your district's legal counsel, and maybe you can use that as leverage to get the school board to buck up for a truck that will let you do your job without overloading it.

[South Florida Lawns]

there are so many things that go down the road in my state that are over weight its unbelievable. With that being said you can get away with it if its not too obvious.

[GravelyNut]

there are so many things that go down the road in my state that are over weight its unbelievable. With that being said you can get away with it if its not too obvious.

Glad you live where they don't check things. DOT Troopers had a semi tanker stopped and being checked on the shoulder of US1 here yesterday. They grab dumps, pickups with trailers, semis, and just about any vehicle that is commercial. Scales come out at the drop of a hat. And he was empty.:laugh:

[duer]

Thanks for the help.
Hosejockey you dont happen to know the RCW do you? If not its cool I'll look it up. This might be grounds ( no pun ) for a new truck lord knows we need it.

Thanks again

W