I'm an arborist, so I'm hauling all sorts of wood of various forms and related equipment. We have a couple spots in town where the DOT regularly sets up a checkpoint. I've only been stopped once and it was on my way out in our "extra" f350, not loaded yet so that wasn't an issue, and the officer went easy on my crusty old truck not being DOT legal, he just gave me a fix it ticket for getting my dot numbers on the truck and a verbal warning to get the other stuff in order like fire extinguisher, triangles, trailer inspection. But if I'd been loaded he could have put scales under me and wood is damn heavy.
I also like to not take too many risks and keep my blood pressure low. It's hilly here, so being within my engineering *if I can* is good. We had a truck come into town last summer and lost his brakes. Ended up inside a bar/restaurant killing the pregnant bartender and taking down half of a historic building. Plus, litigation being what it is in this country, I don't want to end up the but of any lawsuits whatever. Get hit by a drunk driver and if I'm doing something illegal he gets off and I loose my business... Ya know?
So I'm just try to assess the feasibility of getting the most out of the least truck. Obviously there is some difference between the different capacity models and it involves filly engineered components... Only question is whether the upgrade is feasible for me and cost effective. Also possible it's just a rating for application issue, but I doubt there is no physical difference.
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