Truck Customizing Questions

Thanks for the input! I was thinking back to trick my truck and i think those are great looking, but some were borderline too custom, not for overdone rediculous but more for the trucks were soo nicely done as their driver id be constantly paronoid about anything scratching, ripping, denting my truck parts and paint.

Also keep in mind.

When it comes to all those brightly lit trucks out there, with 100 lights.

By the REGS - if a truck has a light - IT HAS TO WORK. So these guys running "rolling xmas trees" have to do a really good pre-trip every day.

Most DOT/Troopers won't even bother with writing a "decorative light" up, but if they're having a bad day - they certainly can. Also, these lights must be the correct color for the position they are in.

So while they're purdy, and they certainly are more visible (no saying "but I didn't see it" at night), they're a PITA to maintain, and you must stay on top of them.

Rick

I had run across this note in TeamRunSmart.com:

The real truth lies within the federal regulation located at Title 49, Part 393, Subpart B. All of the required lamps for each class of CMV are located in Table 1 of §393.11. Any lamp not shown in Table 1 is, therefore, not required. This would include fog lights, running lights, chicken lights, decorative or other accessory lighting. Paragraph 393.9(a) states:

All lamps required by this subpart shall be capable of being operated at all times. This paragraph shall not be construed to require that any auxiliary or additional lamp be capable of operating at all times

This regulation is one of the rare regulations that not only state a requirement, it tells us what lights are not required.

However this misconception does go even to many law enforcement officers.

There have been changes made regarding the add on chicken lights and functionality. Only the factory installed lights ex : headlights, marker lamps, overhead, turn signal, reverse etc are required by law to work at all times to meet DOT requirements. They also have to be in proper position and color, amber front red to the rear but chicken lights can be any color as long as they aren't on a flasher relay that might make them mistaken for an emergency vehicle. I ran into this situation in the oilfield when pulled over in Texas for a random inspection.

And don't forget, decorative truck lighting isn't anything a company driver in a company truck really needs to worry about.

That puts a whole new perspective on having all those lights and a cop could ticket you if he was having a bad bad day. Thats insane.

I saw in a rolling cb interview there was a driver who had 750 chicken lights truck and trailer. I would never ever want to do a pretrip on that lol. Well, maybe at least it would make inspecting the treads and under trailer a lot easier lol.