Private 3500 GMC HD pickup truck and 27' horse trailer

Holli, here is a couple of ideas. Locate a reliable 99 one ton to pull your trailer. The 99’s and below are not required to have a ELD. The older vehicle will also have a lower GVW, not needing a CDL as you will be below 26,000

 

He will still have to log though, so doesn't really fix his issues...

 

Yes in a way it does, paper logs are easier to deal with, $8 and you get a pack of them, then only need to use them when you are transporting the horsy. Two or three sheets, done.

Far better than trying to figure out what is what.

By the way, I wonder if his truck is a diesel or a gasser, I may have not looked hard enough but I don't think they make ELDs for gassers.

Duh! duramax ---- Diesel.

 

You're over-thinking things quite a bit.

ELD's are only required if you are required to fill out a log book for more than 8 days in any 30 day period. In other words, you're allowed 8 days on paper, but if you find yourself needing that 9th day logged, now you'll need that ELD.

You don't have to log every day you are at a show, only the travel days to and from. Operating around your home and then again once you establish a base of operations so to speak at the show, you're exempt from logging under the 100-air-mile exception. As long as you start and stop at the same location for the day within 12 hours, there is no need to log. There is also no need to log personal conveyance miles...such as from the show to the restaurant for dinner and back. Just keep track of how many hours you "work" each day at the show.

In other words, if it takes you 2 days to drive to a show, you're there for 4 days, and it's another 2 days home, you could do that twice in a 30 day period. Or, you could go to shows 1 day's drive away nearly every weekend...2 logged days each...just make sure you keep track of the rolling 30 day window.

Now, as a private hauler, you likely don't have a USDOT number or anything like that...so you really don't have to worry about the DOT showing up at your door to audit you...hell, the FMCSA doesn't even know you exist. That being the case, you're only required to have the current day and 7 previous days logs with you when you travel. The days you weren't required to log, you don't have to have...but I'd recommend a time card or some other means to show your hours worked "just in case" you get stopped. What I'm saying is that the DOT won't have any way to prove you do not meet the 8-in-30 exemption while you're on the road, so even if you DO get to that 9th day it really isn't all that big of a deal. Tell the officer that this is the 1st show you've attended in 6 months, and that you're only required to log when you're going to and from a show. As long as your log book only covers that trip, he can't prove you're lying there on the side of the road.

Look up the 100 air mile radius exemption as well as the 8 days in 30. You'll find them both on the FMCSA website. Learn them and know them, because a lot of cops do not. They assume every truck on the road is required to keep a log book, and now an ELD...but they are wrong. Once you see how these exemptions apply to you, a lot of your concerns will go away.

 

What a mess.

There is an exemption for livestock haulers thru March. Seems like horses would be considered livestock. But who knows anymore?

FMCSA Grants Agriculture and Livestock Haulers ELD Waiver