Pulling a tandem axle car trailer in BC?

[hemi-cammer]

Things we all need to know that we arent told at the insurance office, i had to learn the hard way but you don't! If you are using your trailer for commercial or farm use then this is not really for you, its for personal use only... like hauling your car to the show in another town or your project to the bodyshop or hay for your horse ... etc.

If you are pulling a car trailer, first off it should be lisenced as such. Most of you will look at your registration and see that it says yours is a "commercial" "flatdeck" and does not have its own GVW rating. WRONG! Flatdeck trailers (deck over the wheels) and business/commercial or farm use trailers MUST wear the big commercial plate. Because of that plate, the GVW of your trailer must be added to the truck's GVW that you are pulling it with. Usually this jacks your truck GVW up over 5000KG which means you need a Heavy Trailer Endorsement or a Class 3 lisence legally and if over 8000KG theres a manditory annual inspection for both truck and trailer.

If you are using your car trailer for personal use, get it properly registered as a personal use auto hauler (will say"auto" on reg paper). It should also have its own GVW rating. If you've got two 3500lb axles you cant go over 7000lbs (3175KG), two 5000lb axles = 10,000lbs (4535KG) Etc.

You should also keep in mind your truck registration... if for example you've regularly got a couple engine blocks, a 4spd tranny and your grandma's piano in the box and your registration only shows 3100KG you could be subject to hitting the scales and recieving fines because according to them: ALL trucks are commercial and when hauling or towing, should go thru the scales. This is obviously not very enthusiastically enforced at the moment but occasionally they'll pull you over to "check your load".

Also some more things to watch are the coupler at the very front of your trailer tounge. Usually those are stamped with their own weight capacity rating and if its less than the trailer or than the trailer is lisenced thats trouble. Then theres the hitch on the truck, obviously it has to be suited for your load as well as the reciever and ball... big heavy loads like a heavy trailer and a crewcab longbox deisel 4x4 with brutus box, huge winch bumper and a spare engine in the back is too much for the regular black hollow tube recivers. The answer is the real heavy solid box style like you can find at Comfort.

Lastly (till they change it again)... i havent been harrassed about this (knock on wood) YET, but they want transport chain. One in each corner of the vehicle, crossing over to the opposite side of the trailer both front and back. Then they want (mechanic) wire doubled up to hold your boomer to the chain. Ive heard the big trucks have to use the ratchet boomers, not sure about us though but i do know in the winter... ratchet boomers rust and stick and are a pain!

Many people never get pulled over and most wont care to change anything, but at least now you know. I've hauled a lot of junk on my trailer and been pulled over enough times to realize that when they do come asking questions... its nice to know the right answers and be setup so they can't harrass me.

Just to give you a recent example for if this does happen to you:

A friend bought a skidsteer at the Yahk auction in 2009. He asked me to haul it for him because his trailer wasnt heavy enough so away we went. It was an older gas powered CASE and i loaded it backwards and heavy to the front of the trailer. Got pulled over by an RCMP who was watching from the scales, who told me i was breaking the law and lisenced wrong. So back to the scales we went and i weighed in. My truck is set at 4999KG and trailer is 4650KG.
Trailer came in at 3675 and truck at 4980 but it took me at least a half hour to "teach" them that my registration was correct. Their words: "we've never seen this before, its a loop hole and we're going to investigate it". I said go ahead, you've never seen it before because the people (including them!) arent told the proper way to register and thats BS.
The RCMP and CVSE (DOT) officers both were bewildered at what they saw and told me to come through every time so they "don't have to chase you (me) down every time". I shook my head and looked at them and said "im sure after a few times, you'll figure it out" and away i went.

[Bob]

That's a good outline, but I think that when your trailer wears a large plate, the GVW of the truck must cover the weight of the entire vehicle combination. This means that regardless of what your trailer is able to carry, if your truck is licensed for 5500kg or less (don't have to stop at the scale) if your truck weight is 3000kg you can only pull 2500kg gross on the trailer. If you wish to go above this, you need to increase your licensing or purchase an overweight permit. Talk about playing games

[hemi-cammer]

Yes the big plate is supposed to carry the GVW of both vehicles. However, the way i learned it was if you are running a big plate and the CVSE or RCMP officer pulls you over, they will tell you that if you are not lisenced to the maximum amount that the two vehicles are capable of hauling then you are in violation of the law.
Unfortunately, they don't seem to know whats wrong or right and like me, you'll end up with a guy who tells you that you're wrong regardless and you'll have to go thru the BS of convincing him you did no wrong.

I purposely put a 10,000lb coupler on my trailer even though the axles and trailer can haul 14,000lbs so i couldn't lisence it over the limit and i wouldnt have to get a Class 3 or H.T. Endorsement. Not to mention i seriously doubt i'll ever haul anything that weighs 10,000lbs! (but who knows )