Just got my renewals in the mail for the new process where you're supposed to get your inspection first, in order to have your registration updated (no longer will have a reg. sticker on the windshield).

Do trailers have to be inspected? I have a single axle utility, double axle flatbed and a 5th wheel camper if the type matters.

Thanks,
Charlie

not unless something has changed this last year.
only motorized vehicles operated on public roads.

This again? Yes, your trailers will need annual inspections now.

Anything with a GVWR over 4,000# will need to be inspected. This has been the law for a long time, but they're now going to actually enforce it on the smaller trailers. I got a ticket for no inspection on my 24' gooseneck two years ago

Actually it is GVWR over 4,500#. Farm trailers are exempt from inspection. As mentioned, this has been on the books for at least 30 years just not enforced. Now this new one sticker registration will now force you to get an inspection you should have been doing all along. Long thread on this already.

http://texashuntingforum.com/forum/ubbth..._in#Post5658627

I was told a week ago that as of Jan 1 all trailers have to be inspected to get new registration. That was by Kenneth Mauns office in Collin County. They sent back my check with renewal notice, and that was the response they gave me.

Not true. Just trailers with a gross weight over 4500 pounds. As told to me by the County Tax office yesterday.

Farm trailers are exempt. Just had 2 Goosenecks tagged last week. But all the others registered over 4500 lbs. will be inspected. Single or double axles. Look at your registration and see where you are. Brake shop folks are going to get busy.

i was told by Denton DMV/tax office on tuesday as of March 1st trailers rated at 4000 gvwr and over would require the inspection prior to receiving plate renewal. so i went to my local state inspection and inquired with them as they were aware only issue was did not know where they were going to have room to inspect trailers

Should be trailers with gvwr over 4500 pounds

That stinks. Mine is 4100# and have skimped past it, now time to pony up I guess.

I did not have to have mine inspected, I got "Farm Trailer" tags, but I did have to produce my Ag Exempt card.

This isn't anything new, all trailers over 4500gvw have always ( for at least the last 35 years) been required to be inspected, they are just now enforcing it.
Trailers registered as 'farm' are exempt. (4000gvw ~ 34,000gvw) anything more needs inspection.

http://www.dps.texas.gov/rsd/vi/inspection/inspectionCriteria.aspx

Here is a link to the DPS web site explaining the inspection criteria. As others have stated, this has been law for many years, it just hasn't been enforced, but now it is. All trailers with GVW of 4500# or more must be inspected. Farm trailers are exempt. The main problem that is going to arise is going to be all the 16' lowboy trailer's for example with 3500# tandem axles (7000# GVW) under them w/o brakes are now going to have to have brakes installed in order to get the registration renewed!

So, if you have a trailer that falls into this type situation, you might want to start getting the brake upgrade early as I'm sure all the trailer shops are going to be swamped with trailers needing brakes!

I was told you can have the inspection done in any county. This will help some, my trailer is hardly ever in the county of which I reside.

Well I got lucky this year I guess. I already have my renewal tag for my trailer and didn't get it inspected.

Next year I will have to pony up I guess.

Is the 16' a minimum length for the brake rule? I have a 6x12 tandem axle utility, so being 12' long won't need brakes?

There is no minimum length, brake requirement goes by gvw.
Brakes are required on trailers with a GVW of 4,500 lbs or more.

.....between 4500 and 15K only need brakes on rear axle. Over 15k needs brakes on all axles



§547.401. BRAKES REQUIRED.
(a) Except as provided by Subsection (b), a motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, pole trailer, or combination of those vehicles shall be equipped with brakes that comply with this chapter.

(b) A trailer, semitrailer, or pole trailer is not required to have brakes if:

(1) its gross weight is 4,500 pounds or less; or

(2) its gross weight is heavier than 4,500 pounds but not heavier than 15,000 pounds, and it is drawn at a speed of not more than 30 miles per hour.

Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 165, §1, eff. Sept. 1, 1995.

§547.402. OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE OF BRAKES.
(a) Required brakes shall operate on each wheel of a vehicle except:

(1) special mobile equipment;

(2) a vehicle that is towed as a commodity when at least one set of the towed vehicle's wheels is on the roadway, if the combination of vehicles complies with the performance requirements of this chapter; and

(3) a trailer, semitrailer, or pole trailer with a gross weight heavier than 4,500 pounds but not heavier than 15,000 pounds drawn at a speed of more than 30 miles per hour, if the brakes operate on both wheels of the rear axle.

My boat trailer was out of use for a few years while my bat was in a sling over water. I lost my slot so I went to the whatever to get a new license. They suggested that I get the license for a homemade trailer. I did.

It's not that was in Florida. I gave my boat, mother, and trailer to Cathy. The license expired at the end of April. She finally got new plates today.