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Attention Crew Cab Sleeper Owners!

haulin rv

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The Feds deemed the CCS conversion NOT a compliant sleeper!!! Here is an email from them. Please pass this info along to any towing websites, lets try to prevent any of our friends and other haulers from getting put out of service and being fined!

From: Tyson Labbe [[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2008 10:39 AM
To: xxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: Written Consent



This just in:

The US Federal Department of transport has inspected a Crew Cab Sleeper at the Dually Depot. in Elkahart In. yesterday. The officers involved stated that they like the product and what it is designed to do for drivers. However they have to enforce the law as it is written. They determined that by the wording of the federal document 393.76 that our sleeper kits do not qualify as legal sleeper berths.

At this time there are a lot of regional and state offices still allowing the use of these kits. This may change depending on what paper work is filed federally. Now we have more work to do.

We will be lobbying governments on both sides of the border to allow the use of this type of kit. The apperent problem is the reduction of dimensions in the window insert area. Because we do not maintain 24" vertically and 24" horizontally. There is very little any one can do about this based on the size of the vehicles structural door openings.

If you or anyone you know of in this industry is serious about getting the government to allow this type of sleeper berth for current or future use we have to get moving on it now.
If you know of a contact in the government or a lobby group etc. that may be of use, please let us know. We will be fighting to get the wording changed on the sleeper berth document. Perhaps even an annual operators permit could be devised to allow one ton operators to use this type of sleeper berth. We will keep you updated as things progress.

Please let me know if you have recieved this email and any further information would always be helpfull.

Tyson L'Abbe
LABBE HEAVY INDUSTRIES
306-260-5457
 
are they talking about the sleepers that guys have added to their trucks? or just people sleeping in the back seat of the truck?
 
are they talking about the sleepers that guys have added to their trucks? or just people sleeping in the back seat of the truck?

This warning was for the guys that spent $2000 or so for the kit to convert there back seat. Btw sleeping in a p/u if your commercial is illegal. You can be fined if caught even if you are logged off duty and of course logging sleeper berth is out of the question.

I think it's referring to the ones on the bed behind the cab.

Nope the real sleepers like these are fine,
slpr_logistics_trk.jpg

rmc2%20001-.jpg


Its conversion like the following that have been deemed NOT compliant.
ccs-dodge2.jpg

ccs-dodge_5.jpg


It is a kit that allows a bed utilizing the back seat area of crew cab trucks.

Has anyone contacted OOIDA to get them to help with pushing this change?

I suspect support could be drummed up on hotshothauling.com and

http://hotshotconnect.myfreeforum.org/

http://www.truckinfo.net/messageboards/hotshot.asp

They so far off from the legal dimension that I don't think it would help. The company knew from day one and ignored it.
 
How is it that 10 hours straight off-duty not legal under any circumstances? If you are out on the road under a load and spend 10 hours straight inside a truck stop playing video games, you are still off-duty/not driving. What you do in the 10 hours you have taken off-duty is no business of the DOT. The extended cab area of my Isuzu is over 72 wide x24tall but only about 20 deep, so I log my time sleeping as off-duty, not driving for 10 hours straight. I have been pulled in by several different states and never have they questioned me about it.

The law says you must take 10 hours straight off/duty not driving to be a legal break, or a total of 10 hours in the sleeper berth which can be split into 2 breaks, one of which must be at least 8 hours. To log sleeper berth, you must be in a legal sleeper, but you can log off duty/ not driving anytime you are off duty/not driving. If you are waiting to be loaded and get paid per mile, you can log that time as off duty/not driving. If you are eating dinner, you can log it as off duty.
 
Here is how they get you and say no to sleeping in your truck.

As an example the regulations states" any time spent in or upon a CMV other then time behind the wheel or in a legal sleeper berth compartment is considered on duty not driving." Therefore, sleeping in the back seat or in the bed of the truck or in the trailer being transported is considered "on or upon" a CMV and therefore on duty not driving on the logbook. A driver found to violate this rule can be palced out of service but should be escorted to a place where legal compliance for the out of service order can be completed.
 
Is this one of those on the books law that rarely gets enforced or is this a real serious problem?Just curious because I have heard few/any that have actually been cited or fined.Anyone here?
 
Is this one of those on the books law that rarely gets enforced or is this a real serious problem?Just curious because I have heard few/any that have actually been cited or fined.Anyone here?

Yes, its becoming a problem. I have st

Indiana, Iowa, Wyoming, Minnesota, and North Dakota are some of the actively using the regulation and ticketing drivers. Seems the have figured out we are good sources of revenue.
 
Last edited:
Yes, its becoming a problem. I have st

Indiana, Iowa, Wyoming, Minnesota, and North Dakota are some of the actively using the regulation and ticketing drivers. Seems the have figured out we are good sources of revenue.

Sorry to hear that.
 
Here is how they get you and say no to sleeping in your truck.

As an example the regulations states" any time spent in or upon a CMV other then time behind the wheel or in a legal sleeper berth compartment is considered on duty not driving." Therefore, sleeping in the back seat or in the bed of the truck or in the trailer being transported is considered "on or upon" a CMV and therefore on duty not driving on the logbook. A driver found to violate this rule can be palced out of service but should be escorted to a place where legal compliance for the out of service order can be completed.

So what they are basically saying is that even though you acting in your and everyone else's best interest and safety in mind by resting, they care more about revenue. Like I said you could be inside a truck stop for 10 hours straight not resting and just screwing around and that be legal but to actually try and be safe, you are punished. Typical govt bs. :mad5:
 
So what they are basically saying is that even though you acting in your and everyone else's best interest and safety in mind by resting, they care more about revenue. Like I said you could be inside a truck stop for 10 hours straight not resting and just screwing around and that be legal but to actually try and be safe, you are punished. Typical govt bs. :mad5:

You got it. Next time I deliver to Florida I am to" log off duty Busch Gardens Tampa, Fl" since I'm a coaster junkie!
 
I've heard that many DOT officers are asking for recent Motel/Hotel receipts to verify that you didn't sleep in the truck or trailer.

So if you are hauling an RV trailer with full sleeping accomodations, is it illegal to sleep in the trailer? How about if you are delivering a Motorhome? How do race car teams handle it when they have full living quarters in their car hauler semi trailers?

This is typical government BS. Don't really care about safety, just how to get more revenue. :prrr:
 
This warning was for the guys that spent $2000 or so for the kit to convert there back seat. Btw sleeping in a p/u if your commercial is illegal. You can be fined if caught even if you are logged off duty and of course logging sleeper berth is out of the question.



Nope the real sleepers like these are fine,
slpr_logistics_trk.jpg

rmc2%20001-.jpg


Its conversion like the following that have been deemed NOT compliant.
ccs-dodge2.jpg

ccs-dodge_5.jpg




They so far off from the legal dimension that I don't think it would help. The company knew from day one and ignored it.

Do those Sleeper Cab conversions change the GVW or the GCVW? Cant see the advantage to doing that if you would be overweight the moment you pull off the showroom floor.
 
You are simply adding that much weight to the base weight of the truck. The GVWR is still the same, so your actual payload would be reduced by the weight of the sleeper cab.
 
I've heard that many DOT officers are asking for recent Motel/Hotel receipts to verify that you didn't sleep in the truck or trailer.

So if you are hauling an RV trailer with full sleeping accomodations, is it illegal to sleep in the trailer? How about if you are delivering a Motorhome? How do race car teams handle it when they have full living quarters in their car hauler semi trailers?

This is typical government BS. Don't really care about safety, just how to get more revenue. :prrr:

If you read the DOT regs it specifies which receipts the DOT can ask for. Hotel/Motel receipts are not one of them. The trailer you are transporting is actually your cargo and therefore DOT says you can't sleep in it legally. With the race team motor homes the motorhome is not their cargo and they are not transporting cargo for hire so it does not apply to them. It is like if I were using my travel trailer for a home and office. It is not for hire even though it might be used for making money it is not the cargo.

I slept in trailers I transported on occasion but never logged any thing except off duty for 10 hrs. If you stay at a truck stop you should log the name of the town not the truck stop. The regs don't require anything more than the city as far as I can tell. It does require milemarker if etc. if stopped at a rest area.

Read the wording in the regs carefully and stay within them and be sure you know what regs apply. They don't have a leg to stand on if you are within the wording and not the interpretation.

http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/safety-security/eta/index.htm

http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/index.htm
 
You are simply adding that much weight to the base weight of the truck. The GVWR is still the same, so your actual payload would be reduced by the weight of the sleeper cab.

Therein lies the problem. The frame extension and Sleeper cannot be all that light....
 
Are there any sleepers that sit on top of the bed and allow access through the back window with it taken out? That way you could have a fuel tank in the truck bed under it and as long as the sleeper is 24x24x72 it would be legal. It probably wouldn't be that hard to make one, but it might limit the trailers you could haul by shortening the bed.
 
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