No compelling reasons not to - all you need on your truck is "B" plates which are good up to 8000# GVW. This does not include a trailer like it does here in MO, so you can tow as big as you want with "B" plates. They are $99 a year, same as car plates. You do have a $95 one-time title transfer fee when titling and registering a vehicle.

You can't drive on restricted roads with "B" plates - such as Lake Shore Drive and some "boulevards" in Chicago. You can't put car plates on a pickup truck. You can put RV plates on it if:

RV plates are $78 a year.

 

GVWR and GAWR don't appear on registrations here in Va .... and I don't recall seeing them on other state's registrations. They are simply a manufactiurer's rating for the product. They appear on the VIN decal or plate and we only use them to determine what height limitations apply on vehicles with altered suspensions.

Licensed weight is what you register a pickup or regular truck for hauling, in the case of a PU you can license it to carry way more than manufacturer's rating, but it cost more money to do so.

State weight limits are writrten for big trucks, weights that would crush a PU. 20K per axle, 34K per tandem, 54K per tri-axle, gross weight depends on axles and length but limit at 80K on Interstates unless issued a special permit.

Old days before my time:



Here's a link with some history of the Loadometer.

Now-a-days:



Have normally has 8 scales in a rack in the scale vans. Normally use 4 or 6 at a time. Weigh the tractor fiirst with 6, then pull him off and put two up and move 4 to the trailer and weigh the trailer then. A current Haenni Load O Meter as used here is the WL-101 weighs only 35 lbs. each and the platform is just a hair over 5/8" thick or high.

(Back when I started in the late '70s, the ones we used weighed 90 lbs each and the platform was near 3" high and was ramped on either side butit was still a chore for some drivers to gfet up on them and stop on top. Lots of backing and easing forwards to get them right. Some places where they weighed a lot, they dug shallow pits to get the scales more even with the roadway.)



When working wth the scale crew, one member rides with the trooper in the police car and the two decide when they've got one to weigh and then they call the scale van which is usually sitting "out of the way" to hide it's presence from the many many truck drivers who would announce their presence on CB or side band. While weighing, van is in front of the vehicle weighed or pulled off to side in grass and police car is behind with lights going unless in a parking lot.