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As far as I am aware, the FMCSA (and the USDOT which is under it) only has jurisdictional authority over vehicles used for commercial purposes, not personal vehicles. So this regulation applies to commercially used vehicles, even though they are legally classified by the FMCSA as "non-commercial" and thus no CDL is required. Tree companies routinely have drivers with standard, non-CDL licenses drive 26,0000 GVWR chip trucks and a 10,000 GVWR (or less) chipper. It's possible some DOT enforcement officials think 26,000 combined GVWR is the limit, and there definitely seems to be some confusion on this, but you can technically be at 36,000 combined weight provided your truck doesn't exceed 26,000 GVWR and trailer doesn't exceed 10,000 GVWR.You'll still need DOT numbers anytime you're over 10,000 combined weight between truck and trailer, (nearly all trailers, even the small ones with a pickup put you in this category), and you'll need to have each driver have a DOT Medical Card, and you'll need to have a driver qualification file on each driver, regardless if you're the one driving, or your employee. But all that can be done without a CDL.
As far as I am aware, the FMCSA (and the USDOT which is under it) only has jurisdictional authority over vehicles used for commercial purposes, not personal vehicles. So this regulation applies to commercially used vehicles, even though they are legally classified by the FMCSA as "non-commercial" and thus no CDL is required. Tree companies routinely have drivers with standard, non-CDL licenses drive 26,0000 GVWR chip trucks and a 10,000 GVWR (or less) chipper. It's possible some DOT enforcement officials think 26,000 combined GVWR is the limit, and there definitely seems to be some confusion on this, but you can technically be at 36,000 combined weight provided your truck doesn't exceed 26,000 GVWR and trailer doesn't exceed 10,000 GVWR.
You'll still need DOT numbers anytime you're over 10,000 combined weight between truck and trailer, (nearly all trailers, even the small ones with a pickup put you in this category), and you'll need to have each driver have a DOT Medical Card, and you'll need to have a driver qualification file on each driver, regardless if you're the one driving, or your employee. But all that can be done without a CDL.
