I've talked about this for years to some of my racing buddies. For some reason a lot of guys think you can put "Not for Hire" or "Recreational use Only", or "RV" on the side of your race trailer and you are exempt from the DOT. NOT TRUE in any way shape or form. I had this conversation with a friend of mine a week before he got a ticket from the N.C. DOT.
He has a 40' goosneck that he hauls two trucks in. It has 3x5,000lb axles. He recieved a ticket for being overloaded on the rear axle of his truck and the front axle of his trailer. $790 fine. Jaosn told the police officer what I have heard some other guys say to tell them. " We were just out trail ridding, no money involved. The officer never aksed him about that nor did he slow down when Jason told him this. The officer did a decent DOT check of all lights, blinkers and thread dept on all his tires. He never opened or asked what was inside the trailer. Good thing he didn't cause there probably was 20 gals of race fuel in it!! HAZMAT license need for more than 10 gals.!!
The officer could have given him several more tickets including improper class of license.
A class C (regular license, turn yours over and read this on the back) is Any single vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating not in excess of 26,000 pounds, any such vehicle towing a vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating not in excess of 10,000 pounds, any such vehicle towing a vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating in excess of 10,000 pounds, provided that the combination of vehicles has a gross combined vehicle weight rating not in excess of 26,000 pounds, and any self-propelled or towed vehicle that is equipped to serve as temporary living quarters for recreational, camping, or travel purposes and is used solely as a family or personal conveyance.
With a 3 axle trailer (5,000lb per axle trailer) his max trailer weight is 15,000. Well above what he can haul with a class C license and also above the trailer towing capacity of his chevy dually (13,000lbs). And a trailer with a 15,000lb capacity is also above the total combined GCWR of
of the truck which is only 22,900lbs! (GVWR is 9,900lbs+ max trailer capacity of 13,000lbs) ( Crew cab, long bed, 2 wheel drive)
Long post I know, but just because you can hook to it and haul it does not mean it is anywhere near legal.
The DOT is over every vehicle that hits any road anywhere any time. And every vehicle / motorcycle has a weight limit PER AXLE and you can not over load any axle even if you total weight is below what the trailer can haul.
At some point we will see more and more states stopping enclosed trailers, (no matter if it's commercial or not it doesn't matter and if it's over 10,00lbs it's considered commercial anyway!) and checking them.
Their are also lenght max's. but they vary from state to state.
Hope this help you from getting a ticket in the future.