Todd, I'm not sure any of us drive class 7 or 9 vehicles, and if you want to drive trucks with a class A CDL , you will typically be driving a Class 8 vehicle. It is legal (without additional permits) to pull a load that causes the total combined weight of truck, trailer, and freight to be 80,000 pounds. Specifically to your question that would be 40 tons.
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
Todd; in the grand scheme of things, this is not that important right now, or even later. Yes, it’s cool and all that, but matters not in learning all that you need to enter into this industry.
So...to satisfy your curiosity this link can help provide clarity.
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In other words, using the "ton" convention (as commonly used for pickups):
a Class 7 truck may be also thought of as a ?-ton vehicle a Class 8 truck may be also thought of as a ?-ton vehicle a Class 9 truck may be also thought of as a ?-ton vehicle
I know much about this rating based upon the "ton" convention is derived from capacity of the rear springs.