New CARB regulations for heavy duty diesel trucks

Some of you may already know this but I will pass it on anyway. In December 2008 CARB (California Air Resources Board) approved new regulations for on highway heavy duty existing diesel vehicles. This includes basically anything with a GVWR of 14,000 lbs or more.

Go to www.arb.ca.gov/dieseltruck to see all the details and/or really get ticked off.

All heavy duty diesel vehicles operated in California are either going to have an expensive PM exhaust filter installed, install a 2010 compliant engine, or basically scrap the vehicle in the next few years. This includes totorhome and motorhome conversions. If a totorhome or motorhome did not start out life as a truck or bus (originally built from the factory as a motorhome) they are exempt. I just confirmed this with CARB, since my totorhome is a conversion that started its life as a truck it has to be compliant to these new regulations.

There are different rules depending on the vintage of the truck. As an example per the new regulations, a 1994-1999 diesel truck will be illegal to be operated on California roads January 1, 2013. Fleets with 3 or fewer trucks can delay this by one year until January 1, 2014. This includes any totorhome or motorhome conversion. Look at the above listed website to see the dates for all of the other vintages of trucks.

There are a couple of special provisions. Trucks driving less than 1000 miles per year are exempt. Guess I could just go to the track less often. Trucks under 33,000 GVW that operate under 5000 miles per year can install the PM exhaust filter and be operated until 2021. Trucks over the 33,000 GVW rating that operate under 7500 miles per year can install the PM exhaust filter and be operated until 2021. Big brother will be monitoring your odometer. The way I read the regulation this will also apply to out of state trucks being operated in California.

I have heard these PM filters are very expensive. Does anybody know much they are? I guess I have 4 years to find out just how expensive they will be.

Just to make you feel better CARB is happy to say that this will only affect about 170,000 businesses and about a million vehicles operated in California. It is time to go run over a few politicians.

Greg

 

Oh joy!

This is gonna piss off a bunch of people.

 

One fleet operator I know told me a few months ago they estimated approximately $10,000 per truck for the emissions equipment.

Carson City is looking more and more attractive to me. Bill Miller from BME will tell you. And California is pissed about this TV ad from the Nevada Authority asking businesses to move there. California is full of nut jobs in Sacramento and they just don't get it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VeqP2uB0Ac

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The exodus has already partially caused the plunge in RE prices in CA.

Many performance manufacturers have already left. Remember "Gasoline Alley" in Torrance. Gone. Many have moved to Indiana, as have many of the race teams that used to be based here.

The California legislature thinks the people will just put up with it. But they need to get a clue. Even the left wing nut jobs making movies in Hollywood have had it with high permits, fees, unions, etc., enforced by the "Golden State" and are making movies elsewhere. Heck, even the San Fernando Valley's porno industry is upset that the People's Republic Of Kalifornia wants a "piece" of them. LOL.

When people were saying "Who cares, it's not your money" Margaret Thatcher once said "The problem with socialism is, eventually you run out of other people's money." Then they come looking for yours.

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Ya scared me!

My new Dodge 3500 Diesel Crew Cab is only 11,500 GVWR.

Whew!

 

Yea, but all of your CA customers are effected.

I got a call from Jeff a few days ago. Seems as though he forgot to go through the scales in San Diego County at the border checkpoint south of San Onofre last weekend. He has a dually and a fifth wheel trailer. Busted big time for no CDL, and I bet his GVRW is less than yours.

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That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Diesels already produce less NOx emissions than a gas burning car with a catalytic convertor. Leave it to California...

Big brother does watch though. I was driving around St. Louis one day after racing the same car at the track the night before, still had racing gas in it. The car also had the catalytic convertors "punched" out. I got pulled over by a cop with an exhaust "sniffer" and got a ticket, even though the car was registered in a county with no vehicle emissions regulation. $390.

 

Hey Randy, do you know the weight cut-off for a pick-up and a 2 axle trailer is in California before you need a CDL?

BTW, Jeff who?

 

RUTT-RO--ARE WE SAYING THAT MY DUALLY AND TRIPLE AXEL 38' WITH ELECTRIC BRAKES , I NEED A CDL IN CAL.... Ive towed with other teams stuff in CA , but now our own.... Im behind , cant keep up. give up...?!!! Mitch

 

Greg Oliver got pulled over in Sante Fe Springs with a chevy crew cab and a 2 axle 39 foot Chapparrel. They wrote him up for no CDL.

All I know is, in Texas they will pop you for a standard pick up and a horse trailer if you don't have DOT numbers on the door.

I drive when the sun sets low and the CDL police are back at Winchell's bragging about their daily busts.

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I know that over 14,500# on a fifth wheel, you need a CDL. That was an expensive ticket.......

 

I have looked at registering my totorhome out of state, but the way the new regulation is written, it will apply to vehicles driving on California roads no matter where they are registered.

The below link takes you to Class C & non-commercial Class A & B license requirements and restrictions.

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/dl648/dl648.pdf

From my conversations with CARB, they think affecting 170,000 businesses and 1,000,000 vehicles (numbers from their website) will only cost everybody a few dollars in passed on cost. It doesn't matter that this will push a bunch of small businesses out of business or out of state.

 

Maybe someone wil be so kind as to put up the link for California CDL requirements, so I can look at them. I should be O.K. with a 22 foot Gold Rush go kart trailer, but I sure would be interested in the cut-off for a bigger trailer.

Edit: I guess we were typing at the same time!

Thanks for the link.

It looks like you can tow a trailer with a GVWR of less than 10,000 lbs without a CDL.

 

Back in the 1980's when I had a dually and a Chaparrell I took it to the Fullerton DMV and got a CDL with it. They restricted my CDL to auto tranny and no air brakes. Later I upgraded to full commercial which is what I have now for my rig.

I got stopped on the way back from the Vegas race this year. My rig is 81 feet long by the way. CA has a 65 foot limit.

I handed the officer my log book, my folder I keep in the cab which includes MSDS info on the alky and oil in the trailer, emergency contact information (my cell phone) and maximum quantities of oil/fuel sheet, a print out from the CA DOT which states there is no length limit for truck/trailer combo's used for motorsports including the STAA routes (he measured my rig) and the registration on my truck.

After a lengthy conversation I was free to go. He told me he was looking for our rigs and motorhomes towing trailers. BTW, 60 feet is the limit on a motorhome/trailer and there is no motorsports exemption for them, but in the motorsports exemption it mentions a 65 foot limit for motorhomes and trailers if you are on the STAA routes. Check the link in the next post below this one.

If your rig is over 65 feet you better be prepared to prove you meet the motorsports exemption. A motorhome won't work, and don't get in that argument with them. The truck tractor must be designed to carry a load (fifth wheel) and the KPRA on a 53 foot trailer like mine can not exceed 46 feet. You have to have a CDL with up to date medical card.

While my NRC Freightliner Toterhome truck is registered as a motorhome, the explaination I gave (which is true) is that the DMV will not let me reregister it as a commercial truck because when it was originally sold it was not registered commercial, even if it was originally an out of state sale. It means that the FET tax was not paid when purchased new (as required on commercial) and because of that it can never be changed.

After he asked me what I thought I was driving and I tossed him the log books, etc. He said there wasn't a judge or jury that would convict me because I have done all I can to comply with a very grey area law that is up to whoever pulls you over to interpret. He did tell me that if I insisted it was a motorhome he was going to call for a flatbed to take my trailer away. If I said it was commercial, then the length was fine, but I better have a CDL or the rig was parked until I found someone with one to drive it away.

RG

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If you have a rig that's over 65 feet, you need to print out this form and keep a copy along with MSDS, etc., in your truck. I have given out several copies and more than once these have been used to educate the CHP who are not familiar with the motorports exemption for length.

When I handed this to the officer he read it on the spot it was obvious he had no clue an exemption even existed.

Made my day!

http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/traffops/trucks/exemptions/motorsports.html

RG

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I have 13 trucks and we operate in California as well as all of the midwest. Texas has new rules that are just as bad, stupid, and expensive. I just ordered 5 new trucks a week ago and yep your close $10,000.00 more each to meet the regulations. We have been going thru this clean diesel engine thing for the last 10 years. Every time (so far) that you are required to hang something on the motor to make it burn clean it gets less fuel milage. My little fleet is down 1.2 avg mpg from 10 years ago. Now take all the trucks running and that means millions of gallons of additional diesel produced, transported and consumed. Who know's how much additional emissions all that produces. But OPEC loves it. Its worse then just this issue. The (califonia and Texas) are daily passing "NO IDLE" laws. So you are not allowed to idle your truck to stay cool or warm. Diesel emissions on tri-packs or what we call APU's are also being regulated. Refrigerated refer trucks (the ones that haul those idiots there food) are also being forced to up grade/replace refer's with clean imission units or stay out of those states. Now check this out, if you leave a dog in a vehicle without the AC on you will be arrested. But if you are a truck driver (without a dog) you are being forced to roll down your window sweat it out and live with it.

Lets go after hospital/police and nursing home back up generators next!!!!

 

Rodney

Your last line in your thread about the hospitals and nursing homes has happened long before we are seeing the on highway truck engine issues. The off highway engines are now in to the Tier 3 and Tier 4. Cali had started making contractors and farmers and such companies start registering their diesel engines and equipment saying it was for record keeping then a couple of years later Cali came back and told everyone that their equipment would be rendered useless unless they repowered their equipment. Now Cali is issuing emission credits based on the size of their off highway fleet. This has impacted buisnesses worse than the trucks have so far. There are many old standby gensets that are low hours and low use that are still brand new engines in the industrial world but they will have to be replaced. We just completed four repowers on some 300 KW movie studio gensets for Disneyland that were good functioning units but were too old for CARB so for $50,000.00 each we changed out the engines and put new electronic fuel injected controlled engines. Even now with the next Tier 4 coming in on the off highway the exhaust after treatment will almost cost as much as the engine its self. So this will drive up the cost to the end user. OEM will have a hard time with this because forklifts, waterpumps (irrigation farmers), generators, cranes, skid steers, etc. will all go up in cost, because you all know the OEM will still make their % profit. Also belive it or not there are emmisions police for off highway.

Even the on highway 26,000 gvw truck engines as mentioned in previous threads, next year will either be EGR controlled or will have urea (amonia) injection. International will have the EGR with their engine that is a part partnership with CAT. Everyone else is going to the urea injection which will require a seperate urea tank so after so many miles the tank will have to be refilled, currently most manufactures cant tell you how often ths will have to be done. But International has told us that on all trucks, DOT in time will be able to plug in to your truck at a scale or a traffic stop to see if your truck is up to compliance. Again big brother.


Sorry its so long but it is so much more complicated than this. But this has been good for our Arizona company because of the Cali companies coming to us to do repowers and buy new engines. And again Cali is loosing business to other states.

 

Even more good news. The last I heard (I am a smog and repair shop in Southern California) as of January 2010, they are going to require smog checks on all light duty diesels as well. They are still making the rules of the test procedures, but it appears there will be a functional computer test and visual inspections to make sure nothing has been modified. We see a LOT of late model diesel pick-ups that have had exhaust modifications that will fail this test. Advice - if you are going to make a modification, keep all of your old parts because it will cost big bucks to get new replacements to pass a test.

 

Thanks for that information Randy, My brother jsut got an over length ticket coming back From the bakersfield Div.. We have a Big Renegade motorhome and a stacker. I always wondered why some of the big Stackers, Behind conversion motorhomes, have a kingpin setup on. If the law says "Rated To tow" and KPRA then the kingpin must meet that even on a tag. We have been looking into getting the non-commercial calss A or B liscenses too.