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In NC, you can tow a trailer up to 10k with a regular drivers license as long as the combined weight is under 26k. Or you can drive a straight truck up to 26k with hydraulic brakes.
You could have a one ton dump loaded up to 16k and a trailer at 10k and be fine but if you had the truck at 15k and the trailer at 11k your in class A CDL territory.

The only exception is for RVs

Also if you're thinking about towing a chipper, it's towed equipment here so the trailer doesn't require a tag but the truck tag needs to cover the weight. I have my one ton tagged at 20k so I can have it full of chips or wood and tow a 6k chipper and still be ok, it's 10k with the toolboxes and the fuel tanks full, nothing in the chip box.
 
colb said:
Look into chasis cabs w/o beds. You can put a switch n go, flatbed, or dump body on one. The non-chasis cabs won't convert. The length of the back matters for installations and for dumping ability. 4wd would be very infrequent and very necessary for me, in a new truck.

Flatbed + bumper pull dump roll off trailer + side loaded mini skid is the combo I'm working towards. I'm 2/3rds there.

Do you need to keep payload + tow capacity below 10k, or just tow capacity? Regardless, 10k is a trifle if you do removals. Best just jump in to cdl.
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I think it's just tow capacity. But I'm looking at what Chap said above. Z's summary is more like what I interpret the rules to be.

Trees are a good little side gig (anything I can take a lunch break and make $250 during is alright in my book). I make a great salary at my main job and have a flexible schedule (of course, cost of living is higher too, and I'm a guy that does the actually engineering work and not a manager, so I'm not making dat gated-community $). I think how y'all seem to think of engineering jobs may possibly be a little bit of a 'grass is greener' type of thing (and, conversely, maybe I'm looking at the stuff from my vantage point in the same way), but there's also a large variety in what constitutes an "engineering job". The salary is good ('good' in this high-income area, like any other area, really comes down most of the time to living within means, being content, not trying to keep up with the Joneses, not spending more than you have, making tough decisions now so that later will be easier, etc etc etc), but working for a huge company always has its downsides, as well as the type of work I specifically do. One of them is the desk...killer on the body, unless you want to spend all your time outside of work at a gym. And, schedule - I am a regular 8-6 type of guy, and I've worked two 24hr days in the past two weeks at my job. That's not typical, but if I never do it again, that'll be too soon.

I enjoy doing outdoors activities, of which I consider tree work to be one. I've been making decent little side money at it even with no haul off, and without impacting family time substantially. It's been pretty good.

I'm losing some opportunities I'd like to take, just because of no hauling capabilities. Just looking to expand. I assumed that being able to tow at 10k capacity would let me do a little more haul off.

So, in summary, more money is always good, but it's about more than that. I'd take a decrease in pay to gain certain other things. Trade-offs. It's all about trade-offs, right?
 
Sounds like you are considering all options before jumping in to the deep end...something that is often commendable. Sounds like a 3/4 ton Chev/GMC or Dodge would be preferable in your situation. In Canada they are offering all sorts of incentives on new vehicles at the moment and if you wait a couple of months you may be able to get a 2019 sell off once the 2020's come out. If the incentive is good, I would strongly consider the duramax or cummins option. Fuel economy is better as is towing capacity. Not to mention overall life expectancy of regular maintenance is given. I dont believe you would ever outgrow the diesel with your expectations, but the petroleum engine you could most certainly. I didnt believe it a year ago, but if you offer a good service with competitive pricing your "side business" can rapidly become a very legitimate revenue stream that makes balancing your work/family life difficult. As for the trailer...again think to the future. We have found that our 5 ton 6 x 10 dump trailer with higher side walls is where it is at. Makes stops at the compost yard a fraction of the time and saves so much energy. Also it is great for times when we have rented equipment...mini skid, stump grinder etc. Point is sometimes cheaper just means false sense of economy. Spend a little bit more to get exponential returns. Best of luck in your future endeavors
 
RyTheTreeGuy said:
Sounds like you are considering all options before jumping in to the deep end...something that is often commendable. Sounds like a 3/4 ton Chev/GMC or Dodge would be preferable in your situation. In Canada they are offering all sorts of incentives on new vehicles at the moment and if you wait a couple of months you may be able to get a 2019 sell off once the 2020's come out. If the incentive is good, I would strongly consider the duramax or cummins option. Fuel economy is better as is towing capacity. Not to mention overall life expectancy of regular maintenance is given. I dont believe you would ever outgrow the diesel with your expectations, but the petroleum engine you could most certainly. I didnt believe it a year ago, but if you offer a good service with competitive pricing your "side business" can rapidly become a very legitimate revenue stream that makes balancing your work/family life difficult. As for the trailer...again think to the future. We have found that our 5 ton 6 x 10 dump trailer with higher side walls is where it is at. Makes stops at the compost yard a fraction of the time and saves so much energy. Also it is great for times when we have rented equipment...mini skid, stump grinder etc. Point is sometimes cheaper just means false sense of economy. Spend a little bit more to get exponential returns. Best of luck in your future endeavors
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How y'all loading that trailer? Skid?
 
Obviously there are different viable approaches this, as the advice graciously offered in this thread from each of you professionals varies greatly. That being said, what you just mentioned, Ry, about the 3/4 ton with the dump trailer sounds like a good option (in my ignorance). On the one hand, I'd have a family-capable daily driver, but with capacity to tow something that would allow me to expand my capabilities greatly from their current state.
 
LordFarkwad said:
How y'all loading that trailer? Skid?
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My sk650 can just load over the side of my 16 yard udump dump roll off bin when the bin is rolled off. I typically load really big logs from the back in either 11 or 5.5 foot sections, then cut my brush to 12 feet and skinny and load it atop the logs, then load short fat chunks over the side and drop them on top of the brush. I can handle everything that is too small to sub out to a grapple truck, and I can haul in emergencies if the grapple truck is down for repairs or it is too backed up on the schedule. With a flatbed, I will be able to side load my mini and avoid making two trips to dump and then haul the mini skid home. If I could not roll my bin off I would be sol on medium sized removals. On prunes, I can fill the bin with or without rolling of. I have a custom split level door to keep the butts in the trailer while I load up, tubes in the front to store my rake/shovel/push broom/hayfork, and L-brackets on one side for bracing rod and sub-12ft. drill bits.
 
LordFarkwad said:
Obviously there are different viable approaches this, as the advice graciously offered in this thread from each of you professionals varies greatly. That being said, what you just mentioned, Ry, about the 3/4 ton with the dump trailer sounds like a good option (in my ignorance). On the one hand, I'd have a family-capable daily driver, but with capacity to tow something that would allow me to expand my capabilities greatly from their current state.
Click to expand...

I am in a similar situation to you with regards to employment and side work. I have a regular job as an arborist with a local municipality and I run my own business on the side. I have thought about the options for equipment more than is healthy and I decided on a 2019 GMC Sierra 2500 HD with the 6.0l gas motor, crew cab, 6ft box. I also bought a new 6x12ft, galvanized, 5 ton dump trailer with 4ft high sides on it to pull behind it.The bottom line is that you need the most capacity and capability for the lowest overhead and the best option for that is the truck and trailer combo. I can't take credit for this knowledge as I needed to be beat over the head by smarter people than me in order to give up the dump insert / small chipper combo idea.

The gas motor is more than sufficient to pull the trailer with whatever I put in it and despite having less overall power, has the identical rated towing capacity as the diesel option. Do not waste your money on a diesel truck. In Canada they are over 10k more expensive up front and the motors are complicated and expensive to fix. You will not recoup the money spent on the diesel in fuel economy for a very long time or never. If you can find a 2019, gas Chev or GM 3/4 ton it has a very reliable and relatively simple 6.0 litre engine. You will not regret it. PS: I initially bought a 2018 diesel Chev Silverado 2500 and traded it for a my current truck so my advice comes from first hand experience.

Baby seats are a pain in the extended cab so go crew. Long box is unnecessary and impossible to drive anywhere populated without frustration. I am in the same boat in the I need a family vehicle that'll fit car seats, as well as something to use for my side work.

Do not go smaller than a 6X12 ft. trailer and get high sides. It's not that much bigger than the 10 footer and you will be happy to have the extra capacity. And spring for the galvanized if you want the trailer to last and look new for years. The painted stuff rusts pretty quickly.

Good Luck!
 
Also the new diesels run high pressure injection pumps - can’t handle more than 1.5% to 2% contamination with gasoline so if you ever mix the pumps when filling don’t turn on ignition - either completely drain/empty tank right there or tow it and do likewise.

Gas is more tolerant in this regard.
 
Reliable tree man said:
I am in a similar situation to you with regards to employment and side work. I have a regular job as an arborist with a local municipality and I run my own business on the side. I have thought about the options for equipment more than is healthy and I decided on a 2019 GMC Sierra 2500 HD with the 6.0l gas motor, crew cab, 6ft box. I also bought a new 6x12ft, galvanized, 5 ton dump trailer with 4ft high sides on it to pull behind it.The bottom line is that you need the most capacity and capability for the lowest overhead and the best option for that is the truck and trailer combo. I can't take credit for this knowledge as I needed to be beat over the head by smarter people than me in order to give up the dump insert / small chipper combo idea.

The gas motor is more than sufficient to pull the trailer with whatever I put in it and despite having less overall power, has the identical rated towing capacity as the diesel option. Do not waste your money on a diesel truck. In Canada they are over 10k more expensive up front and the motors are complicated and expensive to fix. You will not recoup the money spent on the diesel in fuel economy for a very long time or never. If you can find a 2019, gas Chev or GM 3/4 ton it has a very reliable and relatively simple 6.0 litre engine. You will not regret it. PS: I initially bought a 2018 diesel Chev Silverado 2500 and traded it for a my current truck so my advice comes from first hand experience.

Baby seats are a pain in the extended cab so go crew. Long box is unnecessary and impossible to drive anywhere populated without frustration. I am in the same boat in the I need a family vehicle that'll fit car seats, as well as something to use for my side work.

Do not go smaller than a 6X12 ft. trailer and get high sides. It's not that much bigger than the 10 footer and you will be happy to have the extra capacity. And spring for the galvanized if you want the trailer to last and look new for years. The painted stuff rusts pretty quickly.

Good Luck!
Click to expand...

Dang, man. Thanks for the word! Glad to hear that a similar plan is working for someone!
 
Reliable tree man said:
I am in a similar situation to you with regards to employment and side work. I have a regular job as an arborist with a local municipality and I run my own business on the side. I have thought about the options for equipment more than is healthy and I decided on a 2019 GMC Sierra 2500 HD with the 6.0l gas motor, crew cab, 6ft box. I also bought a new 6x12ft, galvanized, 5 ton dump trailer with 4ft high sides on it to pull behind it.The bottom line is that you need the most capacity and capability for the lowest overhead and the best option for that is the truck and trailer combo. I can't take credit for this knowledge as I needed to be beat over the head by smarter people than me in order to give up the dump insert / small chipper combo idea.

The gas motor is more than sufficient to pull the trailer with whatever I put in it and despite having less overall power, has the identical rated towing capacity as the diesel option. Do not waste your money on a diesel truck. In Canada they are over 10k more expensive up front and the motors are complicated and expensive to fix. You will not recoup the money spent on the diesel in fuel economy for a very long time or never. If you can find a 2019, gas Chev or GM 3/4 ton it has a very reliable and relatively simple 6.0 litre engine. You will not regret it. PS: I initially bought a 2018 diesel Chev Silverado 2500 and traded it for a my current truck so my advice comes from first hand experience.

Baby seats are a pain in the extended cab so go crew. Long box is unnecessary and impossible to drive anywhere populated without frustration. I am in the same boat in the I need a family vehicle that'll fit car seats, as well as something to use for my side work.

Do not go smaller than a 6X12 ft. trailer and get high sides. It's not that much bigger than the 10 footer and you will be happy to have the extra capacity. And spring for the galvanized if you want the trailer to last and look new for years. The painted stuff rusts pretty quickly.

Good Luck!
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Sounds like a great set up...one small thing I would like to add that took me over a year to put on my truck. A truck cap. Spent many a days hauling gear in and out of the box to and from the garage. Not to mention storing rope, electric saws and other misc. gear in the cab with my car seats and kids with their feet bending my mesh visor or knocking my sena unit off. Cap is key...also no more I hope it is not rsining on the way home
 
I've had a bed cover for ~15yrs on my current truck, and it is something that I'd never willingly go without again.

Would y'all recommend a camper shell type of deal, or a cover that can be rolled back/removed easily?
 
I’d go with a Dodge 2500 with the 6.7L Cummins. Lots of power, 4x4 and handles long commutes well. Throw a dump trailer on it and away you go... also I would like to add that the spray in box liner is a great investment!
 
LordFarkwad said:
I've had a bed cover for ~15yrs on my current truck, and it is something that I'd never willingly go without again.

Would y'all recommend a camper shell type of deal, or a cover that can be rolled back/removed easily?
Click to expand...

I have a solid tri fold tonneau cover on mine. I like it because I can have full use of the bed with nothing overhead, unlike with a cap. This makes it easier to load wood in my truck if needed. The trade off is less weather protected storage for my gear when it’s in there.
 
Reliable tree man said:
I have a solid tri fold tonneau cover on mine. I like it because I can have full use of the bed with nothing overhead, unlike with a cap. This makes it easier to load wood in my truck if needed. The trade off is less weather protected storage for my gear when it’s in there.
Click to expand...

A tonneau cover is a good option, however I find it limited with height. As mentioned my vehicle is multi purpose work/family. We have a travel trailer and the cap allows us to store bicycles, bbqs and other large items in a safe and weather protected area. Also had roof racks installed which has been great for our 12 ft. Orchard ladder as well as my wifes stand up paddle board
 
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