Anyone from Kansas that has deciphered their licensing requirements?

[bevans6]

The Kansas dept of motor vehicles CDL FAQ page includes this direct answer to your first question:

"My parents are thinking about getting one of those huge RVs for travel. Will either of them need a CDL? What if they want to share the driving? They are both very capable drivers.

It varies according to the weight of the vehicle. If the RV weighs enough to be considered a commercial motor vehicle, your parents will need CDLs (refer to the first question/answer on this page for weights). Otherwise, they may drive the RV with their regular driver's licenses."

That means that if your vehicle is over 26K lbs, RV registered or not, you need a Class B CDL.  Kansas has no "non-commercial" Class B license.  

The answer to your second question is in here somewhere:  http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCwQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ksrevenue.org%2Fpdf%2Fcdlhb.pdf&ei=CFrMUbZRpujRAbLcgIAJ&usg=AFQjCNHzy09RlSVN_U0C2cB_b7c3YOHHRg&bvm=bv.48340889,d.dmQ

Basically you need to get tested, road test and written test, for CDL driving including air brakes.  Kansas doesn't have an air brake endorsement but if you don't get tested for air brakes your license is issued with an air brakes restriction, meaning you aren't allowed to drive a vehicle with air brakes.  The best thing to do is to call a commercial driver's school and ask them what the test requires.  You will probably be best served by either moving to a different state or taking a commercial driving school course, which includes them setting up or possibly actually administering the tests you need to take.

Edit:  two other thoughts came to mind.  First, where I live anyone who just walks in for a CDL (our equivalent) test fails the first time, and maybe the second time.  If you don't have a school behind you, you are tested with a different scoring toughness.  That is one reason I took my air-brake school and they actually did the testing.  Second - school bus drivers have the license you need, maybe without the air brake qualification.  If you hire on as a school bus driver they often train you and arrange for the testing.  I don't know if you actually need to stick around to drive the bus or if you can just quit after.  Just a thought, I got my upgraded license those many years ago because I drove a school bus while in college.

Edit 2:  The written test will include all of the rules of the road related to driving a commercial vehicle, all of the mandatory daily inspection log report rules, weight rules, hours of operation rules, drivers log book rules, and all of the air brake testing and operation rules.  The road test will include driving the vehicle observing all of the rules of the road, parking, backing up to a loading door, and will include doing a daily inspection of the vehicle including the air brakes.  If you show up in a bus you may have to describe how to test the brake chamber pushrod extension but you probably won't be asked to perform that test.  You'll have to do the compressor recovery test, bleed down, low air alarms, auto-set of the parking brake etc.  A lot of the test probably presumes modern spring brake systems so will be different to what you may have on your bus.  The problem with a CDL test is that it's designed to license someone to drive any modern current vehicle, so you have to know all of those systems.  When I re-write my air-brake license every five years I have to go to school on tractor protection valves, how dual tank systems work, etc, since I never use that knowledge on my bus.

Brian

[RJ]

The answer to your second question is in here somewhere:  www.ksrevenue.org/pdf/cdlhb.pdf‎[/url

Brian -

Dead link. . .  


George -

You might need this:

http://busnut.com/forum/index.php?action=articles;sa=view;article=40

FWIW & HTH. . .

[belfert]

I you remove the extra characters from the end of Brian's link it works fine.

[bevans6]

I couldn't make the direct link work at all so I changed it to the google link.  If you google "Kansas CDL Manual" it's the first thing that comes up.  Pretty aggressive that they require a full tilt CDL for driving an RV over 26K, not that I think it's bad, just more than most states require.  Up here in Ontario and Nova Scotia we don't have CDL's but we require anyone driving over around that weight (actually a little less) to have the same full license as any professional driver, complete with medicals and air brake endorsements.  (no medical in Ontario).  The only break you get in Ontario is a restricted Class A for people who tow RV trailers over 10K lbs.

License requirements are indeed a cloudy subject to start to get in to...

Brian

Brian

[Cary and Don]

Maybe the place to start would be to see what it will take to get that weight on your registration.  If they will accept a weight ticket from the scales this may become a mute question.  If most of the 41xx are weighing in between 26K and 28K fully loaded,  I will bet that they would come in under 26K empty.  I think our 4107 was around 28K with full tanks and loaded with ALL our stuff.  

Don and Cary

[bevans6]

The weight on the registration is immaterial, actually.  You can have just about anything there, but if it's wrong you bear the responsibility not the DOT that issued it.  It's the actual weight on the day that counts, on the scales, and in most cases the weight is "vehicle or combination of vehicles" so anything in tow like a car or trailer is added in to the bus weight.  Up here anything over 6600 lbs has to stop at weigh scales, not just commercial but any and everything, and yeah the police sometimes camp out there and do random inspections. 

Brian

[belfert]

The weight on the registration is immaterial, actually.  You can have just about anything there, but if it's wrong you bear the responsibility not the DOT that issued it.  It's the actual weight on the day that counts, on the scales, and in most cases the weight is "vehicle or combination of vehicles" so anything in tow like a car or trailer is added in to the bus weight.  Up here anything over 6600 lbs has to stop at weigh scales, not just commercial but any and everything, and yeah the police sometimes camp out there and do random inspections. 

How many miles long are the lines at scales in Canada if any vehicle over 6,600 lbs has to stop?  Heck, a dually pickup with a driver probably weighs over 6,600 lbs empty.

[bevans6]

Well, the one scale that I pass semi-regularly that has that requirement is the one on Highway 102 at the border to New Brunswick.  I have never seen more than two trucks there.  Sometimes they have the lights on and everything has to go in, sometimes they just turn the lights on when they want to issue a special invite.  Lots of the scales have big signs that they can light up that tells the truck to come in, or to bypass, they seem to be triggered by a camera and weight switch setup in the road bed.  Same deal in New Brunswick, I've been called in when I had a trailer behind my truck, and when I was in the bus once.  They have cameras, so they know who skips out and you get a ticket in the mail.  Also, it's registered weight, not actual.  Half ton pickups are usually registered for over the limit.  I talked to one local guy just yesterday, he said he had never stopped once in 30 years, never got nothing, but a buddy of his ran past the lit up sign on the weekend, got chased down and the ticket was $800.  No idea what else he did wrong, but everything (truck, trailer, axles, tires) was overweight.  He'd been running like that for years.  He was towing a typical 24' car hauler with the cheapo 3500 lb axles and he had about a ton more than it could carry in it.  His truck was registered for about a ton less it was carrying too.

Brian

[ArtGill]

North Carolina has an exemption for motor home, but they use the ambiguous word "might" for motor homes over 26,000.  But the interesting change they have made is not all commercial or noncommercial CDL's require a medical.  You will have to read the rules to be sure, but a motor home driver CDL does not require a medical.

Art