I am new to the forum and it's taking me a while to catch up on all the old posts so this is my first post. I have privately emailed onezman and Bill R with my concerns over registration and a CDL requirement but I haven't got it figured out yet. I would be satisfied with a non-commercial registration if that existed here in California, but a few years back I was charged a commercial surcharge for a van registration which the DMV person said was a standard requirement unless I had a permanent camper conversion.
Anyway, I just wanted to comment on geof's and Doug's earlier comments on bobtailing over slippery roads. When I drove professionally, pulling out of Minnesota, I bobtailed on slick, snow covered roads several times with both twin-screws and single-axles and the twin-screw does help a little, although its main advantage is traction from a stop. When you hit a slick spot it's still pretty easy to swap ends (I've done with both drives on). However, a load doesn't really help that much. Once pulling out of Chicago during a snowstorm with a fully loaded 40' reefer (78,500 lbs.), I hit a slick spot on the freeway and the tractor fishtailed violently back and forth at least 5 times before I got it back. Luckily, it had power steering (many didn't in those days) or I might not have been able to keep up with it. I wouldn't have been on the road if that jerk of a dispatcher wouldn't have forced me to be under threat job loss. I'm glad those days are over.
I'd still love to hear more on non-commercial registration from anyone who's done it and how they did so. Thanks.
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