Motorhome sizes vs license

[till]

I was at the RV show yesterday and noticed something kind of scary. I hope that the sales guy was lying to me on this one. I saw a "motorhome" that was a Freightliner cab with a tandem axle and dualies at the rear. Thing had to have a gross weight at something around 40,000 Lbs Air brakes and the whole nine yards!!! I looked in the cab and man it was a semi tractor not an RV.

The salesman tells me that you do not need any special license to drive it!?!?!!?

I have to have a Class C to drive the "little" 26 foot straight truck at work. If it had air brakes I would need an air break endorsment too.

Does this scare anyone else?????

[markdoane]

Ted,

He probably meant you don't need a CDL licence to drive it. Here's the lowdown for Illinois:
http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/pu.../dsd_x1429.pdf

[wahoonc]

till,
Unfortunately the salesman was basically right. I have a Class A (CDL) in NC with Hazmat endorsement. In NC you are not required to have a CDL to drive recreational vehicles, fire trucks or military vehicles. It amazes me the number of bus type RV's out there and the person at the wheel has little or no training in handling a vehicle of that size or complexity.

Aaron

[Coastalview]

I too, have a Class A (CDL), with quite a few endorsments as well, in Ca. At least these new bus type rv's have air dryers, but what about those that have s cam brake's?
I guess they can call one of those roadside mechanic's, when the brakes seem weak or weird (ever roll over an s cam ?).

[overlander63]

Up until last year, you could drive one of those, if you owned it, but you couldn't legally drive a 3/4 ton pickup without a CDL in our state. By law, you can drive as big a motor home as is legal to operate on the highway, and you can do this with nothing more than your operator's license. Pretty scary, especially when you conjsider that most RV owners are retirees that have never driven anything bigger than a minivan.