Pete C. wrote:
"Steve W." wrote:
Ignoramus11295 wrote:
On 2011-08-09, Ecnerwal wrote:
In article ,
Ignoramus11295 wrote:

I am not about to become a "trucker", but I am thinking about getting
a Commercial Driver's License (CDL).

The purpose is to be able to drive a larger truck (like a 1 ton
pickup) with a larger trailer (like 15K lbs), buying and selling
larger things.
Check with your local DMV / RMV / whatever they call the drivers
licensing division in your state's web site, but in most states you can
drive quite a lot on a "car" driver's license - 26,000 lbs GVW on a
"car" license here, so long as it's not a schoolbus. You do a lot of
surplus - the duce-and-a-half is, IIRC, a classic "car license max"
truck, for instance. Kind of a high bed for loading machinery without a
dock, though.

So, I can own a Deuce and use it to haul stuff, without a CDL?
Unless your getting paid to haul the stuff.

It's a big hassle to get a CDL (especially these days - homeland
security wants to stick their oar in too.) Then you also have to
maintain logs, etc. You do need a CDL-class-suited vehicle, and a
CDL-class-suited licensed driver to supervise you - If you don't have a
buddy that's a truck driver with his own truck, that's much of the
reason for "CDL School" - access to those items.
I see. I think that in IL, CDL schools are required to teach 160
hours, which seems like a big overkill.
Depends on the school and the person in the class. I went in late 84
because of the vehicle access. There were two "students" in that class
that shouldn't have even shown up. Both had NEVER drove ANY vehicle and
decided that they wanted to be OTR drivers. Didn't have a clue what to
do or how to do it. One actually drove a yard truck right through the
shop wall because he forgot how the clutch worked!!!

IMHO, if going to school (or exploiting buddies), if you have a need to
get bigger than you can drive on a "car" license, just go for the
tractor-trailer (usually class A) license - you can drive anything else
with that one, and have a backup career, and more options in buying
trucks.
I think so too. Class A would be the way to go.
I hold an A & M with haz-mat, wrecker, Doubles/triples, metal coil and
tanker and had the passenger endorsement until last year (drove school
buses for a while)

AM with TX here. Not interested in the passenger endorsement, I'm not a
people person and driving a passenger van/bus is about the last thing
I'd ever want to do.

How did you guess that I got out of that job after the first year????

ANYONE who thinks that the children of today are well mannered, pleasant
people just needs to drive a school bus for about a month. If you make
it that long without wanting to drive the entire bus off a cliff after
realizing that "these kids will be ruling the world some day" you may
want to talk to a shrink....

--
Steve W.