Cab Marker Lights Required?

What is the requirement for cab roof marker lights? Are they required to tow a 8.5' wide x 22' long gooseneck with the deck between the wheels? It is rated at 15,000. My 05 Chevrolet 3500 came without any marker lights. Someone told me the truck is already wired for them. The only thing missing is the holes and the lights. I have the triangles, first aid kit, and fire extenguisher already. Don't need to give DOT any reason to start looking me over.

1970-1655
Anything over 80 inch width, not counting the mirrors, starts the requirement for cab markers. One on each corner as wide as possible, plus the 3 in middle.
HTH
Willie

Yes. If anything in the combination (excluding mirrors and a few other odd attachments) is over 80" wide you get into the requirements for clearance (the outside two) and identification (the center three) lights, front and rear.

On things like horse/stock/box trailers over 80", amber ID lights on the front that are visible over the cab are legal, but a lot of manufacturers are starting to skip those. For a flatbed of most any sort, gooseneck or tagalong, (or even, getting technical, a snowmobile trailer) over 80", you pretty much need the cab lights.

It sounds like Chevy and Dodge are on the same page. It used to be the cab lights were optional on 1/2 and 3/4 tons and stock on the one-ton Dodges, until '04 or '05 when they made them an option on the one-tons, too. In Dodge's case, the wiring is there, just no lights -- not sure about Chevies on that score.
FMCSA lighting regs

If your truck is rated at 11,001 lbs or higher, you are over the 26,000 lb law and need a CDL, log book, medical, IFTA stickers for all states that you drive in, and you have to do quarterly reports. This is even if it is only for personal use.
The CDL is based on load rating, so one can be empty and still be illegal.

AS far as I'm aware the OEM would install ANY marker/clearance lighting that is required by law for the jurisdiction the truck was sold into. You are required to make sure that those lights are in working order at all times.
That's the only requirement that I know of...
Mabey it's different where you are.

Rod

It is the same, Rod. The distinction I think is that the manufacturers dropped the clearance and identification lights as standard equipment on the one-tons with the single rear, as nothing about the vehicle itself is wide enough to require them. Duallies still require them, along with the ID lights on the rear, and the fore-and-aft markers on the fender flares. The requirement for the lights on a single rear only kick in when you hitch up to something over 80" wide.

As the others have said the marker light rule kicks in at 80 inches wide.

Another rule that is not often enforced but you should be aware of is the fact that your 102 inch wide trailer is not legal on most state highways. You are only allowed to pull that trailer on the federal highway system.

Curious what it is about that trailer that would restrict it to federal roads.

The width is what restricts it to federal roads. Some states will allow 102" on any road as long as the lanes are 12' or wider. Here in New Jersey the limit is 96", so technically I'm illegal with my gooseneck. However, you're allowed to go up to 10 or 20 miles (not sure the exact number) off of the interstates to make your delivery.

Thanks. If they had that rule here in Maine and enforced it, commerce (very nearly dead anyway) would grind to a complete halt. 20 miles off a fedral road would cut off 9/10 of the territory and half the population of the state.

The kicker down here is weights. As it is, they allow 99k combinations (with tri-axle trailers) on the turnpike and state roads, but ban them from the Interstate. Problem is that that policy has beat the side roads all to snot, and we manage to kill a few folks every year as the BIG trucks travel millions of miles each year miles parallel to the Interstate but on the smaller, local roads with the pedestrians and turning traffic. One of the senators got aproval for a one-year test exemption from the 80k rule. We'll see how it goes.

That's a new one on me...

Up here, as long as the lights you have, work, you don't need more.
If you got into trailers, they expect the marker lights to be on the sides... and if you get into building things, then yes... the inspection requirements are going to get harder. But... to add lights to the cab roof on a one ton truck. No, I don't think they'd go that far, pulling a 102" gooseneck or not.
That said, many of our regs are probably not as stringent up here. We are allowed 102" anywhere, anytime. We're allowed 5500 KG on a steer axle (tractor) and up to 8000KG on a straight truck if it has the axle rating and tires to carry it. 9000 KG on a drive and they finally allow a three axle cluster on the DRIVES.
If I'm not mistaken those weights carry for a tridem cluster, so you're allowed 27000 KG on that. Everyday trucks up here are grossing 50,500 KG or 111,100 #.
There are some limits on local roads... I think those are mostly considered tandem roads (they don't allow full scale on the tridems)... but in reality most just run/hide. Enforcement can't catch everyone.
One smart thing they have done here is build good all weather main arteries that are full weight roads... then the collectors are a patchwork of cowpaths.
The interstate highway system, limited to 80000# always puzzeled me... and then allow full weight on state roads. Doesn't really make sense to me.

Rod

According to the Missouri Drivers Guide, the maximum width is listed as 102 inches. It doesn't say anything about the 102 inch being restricted to interstates and certain designated roads like it used to. There are some weight and length limits that are listed as applying to only "interstates and certain designated routes" (map available)and up to ten miles away from those routes. Obviously each state will be different on what's allowed where. My $0.02 worth (before taxes). Mike

Oh, yeah, it's easy enough to get snarled up between states, never mind an international border. The only thing that saves us is that as long as you meet federal regs for equipment and your are legal for license and registration in your home state, the other states have to respect that. I know the border with Canada well, and that's another whole ball of wax.

As far as the lights on the pickup and the need for clearance and ID lamps due to width, that's a bit of a pain in the neck. It used to be that any trailer over 80" wide had the identification lights in the middle, both fore and aft. The manufacturers have been scrimping of late and only putting them on the back. So while they were assuming that the lights on the cab roof would cover it, the truck manufacturers were assuming that the lights on the trailer would cover it, and here we are with no amber identification lights on the front to show to the DOT officer on the side of the road. Go figger.

As far as Maine and the weight limits, it's just a SNAFU. The best-bult roads in the state -- best foundations, drainage and surfaces, the Interstates -- are covered by federal law and limited to 80k. Given Congressional lethargy (some days a good thing, others bad . . .) those limits have never been raised to accommodate the extra weight made possible by technology like pneumatic tags and spread axles and . . . So the states have individually gotten ahead of the game. The problem is that, north of Augusta, which is only 100 miles into the state, everybody over 80k has to get off onto the side roads. A fellow headed to Ft. Kent has to hop off at Augusta and drive the next 300 miles on two-lane cowpaths. It's a disgrace and has got a lot of people killed. This one-year trial coming up will, I expect (and hope), be quite revealing. The Interstate only runs another 175 miles beyond Augusta, so the same driver will still have to dodge wagon ruts getting to Ft. Kent, but a lot more of hiws route will offer and afford the safety of a limited access highway.

I did a post a while back explaining this but you must have missed it.

Each state sets rules for length; height; width; and gross weight.
Years ago truckers had problems because while legal in one state they might be over somewhere before they got to there destination.
Such as lets say 80,000 lbs is legal in La and Tn. But to get to Tn you had to cross Ms where the gross weight was 78,000. You had real problems.

So to cure this problem the federal government took matters in their own hands. They allowed 2 pups of 28' or less; 53' single trailers; 80,000 lbs gross weight; no overall length limit; and 102" wide.
Some states had a fit. So the feds limited these standards to the Federal Hwy system. You are allowed to have anything within the limits above as long as you stay on the system. They allowed 1 mile off the system for access with a wavier that you had to get from the state if your terminal was over 1 mile from the system. Most states did not want to fool with the waiver so they just set the standard higher. Some only allow 3-5 miles while others allow 10 or more miles.

So the short answer is......
Each state is allowed to set any standard they want to but they are not allowed to restrict access to the federal system if you follow the rules above.

If you are old enough and can remember that far back you know right when this law went into effect. Everyone had cab over trucks and then overnight everyone started buying big hood trucks. That is because the overall length law went bye bye.
The National Highway System State by State

What I don't get is the 80K limit... Up here we'd gross at least 91300 on 5 axles and 137500 on a super B.
80K just seems low to me. It's hard enough to make money here without losing 5 ton of payload...
There's 3 axle trucks that sneak around here with 80K on their backs... but they're a tad overweight.

Rod

730, not according to the federal regs. For a pickup with a gooseneck or bumper hitch, the weight of the power unit plus the amount of weight the tongue of the trailer adds to the power unit is what they go by. This is what the DOT in IA told me. Ia uses the federal regs for intrastate regulation.

Your DOT man was wrong.

Look at the federal regulation 383.91 and you can read it for yourself without going on hear say.