Titling M105A2 in Texas.....

[saddamsnightmare]

June 13th, 2010.

You gotta love those Texas courthouse ladies... THEY will make your day. The other day I went down to the CH here in Lamar Co, to see what the ladies wanted to get a set of plates and a title for the M105A2 I bought from GL up in Norman, OK in May of 2008. Bill of sale, police run the SN, scale weight. It's taken two years to track down the detective that does the vehicle inspections (no kidding), and he uses the Army vehicle Identification number and data from the builders plate. Then the weigh in, trailer had an MEP-023A generator set loaded in with a fork lift, so I figured the ladies would use the data plate info.....Wrong! Weighed with the gen set... took the scale ticket in... NO go, gotta be empty!
I hunt up a man with a forklift to get the generator set out, reweigh comes in at 2600# empty, data plate says 2750 empty. Lady at the courthouse wants to know if its open or closed? Open with a tarpauling cover..! What kind of trailer? Cargo.... Open or Closed? After all the Laurel and
Hardy, they get me for $114 for sales tax on a $406.00 trailer and plate... NO SF-97 rigamarole .... I guess I have to love these ladies for saving me the $60.00 to GL for paperwork they would have had a cardiac with anyway......
Then I get the genset reloaded and off I go.... Yes, I know I can get away with the bumper numbers in Texas as the registration.... BUT there is some debate as to whether you can carry any cargo in the truck or trailer legitimately, and as I'll be hauling my personal gear to Illinois, I want nothing to attract the State troopers attention in the three or four other states I'll be passing through on the way.
Oh, the deuce and the trailer got 13 really good 11:00X20 NDCC's off a 5 ton courtesy of Cosmo & Co. at Alpha Heaven, new tubes and flaps, mounting by Bill Bass Tire of Paris,TX, set me back enough to be a half down payment on another deuce, but they do ride better then the worn out 9:00X20's and add some to the speed (NOW I gotta look out for those Illinois State Troopers, can't be Blues Brothering them......)! Now all the Vietnam Veterans think its a five ton..... even the old guys that drove the deuces....
Now for the road trip (twice) 1500 miles RT....... Lets see if an M35A2 with oild change, grease and inspection can handle a 3000 mile on the road speed month......??????

 

[NDT]

Good luck on your trip and sorry you will be leaving our great state. BTW, GL will issue SF97's for older sales. Would have saved you a bunch of trouble.

 

[blacktop_one]

I'm going to be titling/registering mine soon - what did you use as bill of sale?

 

[saddamsnightmare]

June 15th, 2010.

NDT:

In Lamar County, the Almighty himself could bring in a legitmately titled ex MV, and the courthouse ladies would have a bird! They went crazy because my 1963 Swiss Unimog, titled in Illinois, did not have enough serial number digits in its SN! The deuce, titled in Colorado, had to be weighed even though the government data plates specifed tare weights and gross weights and the serial number did not conform to the modern system.....!
The M105A2 had a bill of sale and a police serial check... What they woukld not accept was the loaded with generator weight and use the builders plate tare weight of 2750 lbs...
SO I had to unload the generator set, reweigh, reload the generator set and submit the scale ticket for the tare weight! Then the vehicle identification number threw them off again because it does not conform to modern standard format.... Once that was all done, they issued the plates and title paperwork. Nothing GL would have sent them in the form of an SF97 would have done it for them, as it would not have been made out to me, only to GL..!


Blacktop One:

Step 1: Original GL invoice from the sale marked "PAID" with my name and address as usual on such forms.

Step 2: The local Paris PD detective's signed statement ( a Texas DMV form, I believe) detailing the SN or Vehicle Identification Number, Model and manufacturer, length, tare and gross weights from the data plate on the tongue. You would likely have to go to your local city PD, County Sheriff, or State Troopers Barracks to get them to do this form, as they have to see the vehicle.

Step 3: A scale weight ticket from a local scale for the (Unloaded) tare weight, and a check for the sales tax owed and licensing fees for a 1-1/2 ton trailer. Once you have all these ducks in a row, the courthouse ladies that handle registration generally can get the job done.

IF you want to do a "Former Military Vehicle" registration, you're on your own, as mine are all working every day vehicles, and I pay the going license fees so I can haul and go out of state without getting my chops busted by the PD.

In West Virginia, it was much easier to do any and all of the above without the comedy routines, they wouldn't even bat an eyelash at something as odd as an M3422A1 Mighty Mite.... Now I will get to see how Illinois handles these three items, one having been registered there before (the Unimog). It ought to be interesting, to say the least!

 

[blacktop_one]

Good information to have! Thanks!

 

[Pawnshop]

When I registered my M1009 the lady at the tax assessor's office balked at the VIN so I told her that it was parked right outside if she wanted to see it for herself. She looked out the window, contemplated the fact that it was 105 outside that day, and decided to go with what she had!

 

[drgreg]

Glad I don't live in Texas, way too much government. I don't have to register my trailers in Wisconsin.

 

[Pawnshop]

All trailers in Texas have to have plates and a yearly tax paid to operate them on the road, trailers with a GVW of 4000lb or more also have to be titled. Some of the rare exceptions would include farm use or former military trailers used for educational purposes. Mr McGrogan did not want any limitations on his usage so he went the civilian registration route on a trailer over 4K GVW.

My M1009 is registered as a standard Texas passenger vehicle as it is my daily driver so I have plated my M416 trailer so there are no questions of legality when I use it to haul "stuff", but with a GVW of only 1350lb I do not need a title for it.

 

[Snarky]

I have a plated M105A2 and a Plated Deuce. I had my plates for my M105A2 months before I got the M105A2 actually into the state, I brought the plates with me when I picked it up. All I needed was the SF-97 which I think you can apply for at any point now. Annoyingly they charged me a 2.50$ late fee because GL is so slooow. I didn't argue, I took my plates and left, and a week or two later had a Texas title.

 

[86m1028]

I have 9 trailers right now & swap a "home made" trailer plate between them.

 

[runk]

Note that there is an exemption in Texas from the late penalty for all government sales.

 

[Srjeeper]

All I gotta say is "those musta been some pretty tough old girls" if Kyle couldn't soften em up with the good 'Ol McGrogan charm'.

Glad all's straightened out Kyle, Safe trip, Blue Skys and Happy trails.

Oh yea, keep us posted..

 

[blacktop_one]

I tried yesterday to title and MV plate my M105a2 (without SF-97) and went 'round and 'round with them but they wouldn't budge. Gotta have the SF-97, they say. We'll see how long GL takes to get that to me, not gonna hold my breath.

 

[saddamsnightmare]

June 26th, 2010.

Gents:

The Texas title (permanent) came in the mail the day before yesterday, and lists GL as the former owner, but the transfer is complete and the trailer is operable without all that SF-97 ppain and suffering. One thing I noted yesterday in towing the trailer home from Clarksville,TX, where it and the deuce was gone over by Mr. Weemes at Weemes Diesel Service, was in a torrential downpour the 11:00X20 NDCC's on the trailer did really well at keeping the cars about a quarter mile back due to the wheel wash at 55 MPH! The other thing I noticed is I'm gonna have to plug the drain holes right behind the wheel housings with hole plugs, as the 1100's will throw water right up through the holes at road speeds....

(The trailer did a pretty good impression of two roostertails in the rain!)