Trailers are worthless
Came across this thread when I was looking for heavy duty Dodge trucks and thought I would see if I could help shed some light on the subject. I checked out your link and there was one important issue I saw with it. It is not owned or operated by the state of Florida and is not up to date. The Air Force recently moved us back to Florida from Alaska and last year I spent a lot of time on the phone with Commercial Law Enforcement officers and weigh scale officials trying to find out what the rules were when driving large trucks in Florida (I'm in to antique trucks and have a web site on Dodge semi trucks) and what required a CDL and what didn't. In all of my conversations with the commercial enforcement people no where was a Class D license ever mentioned. You were either commercial and needed a CDL (A, B, or C) or you weren't (which only required a regular drivers license). I've even gone through all of the state statutes that cover licensing and they didn't mention anything about needing a Class D for a truck weighing 8,000 pounds or more.
To add insult to injury there are a few things in the statutes that add some confusion to the issue.
1.) Registration: any truck 5,000 pounds or higher is tagged as commercial registration and the price of the tag goes up in weight ranges. The higher the weight class the higher the price of the registration. The trick is this is only registration. It is totally separate from license requirements as the two are completely different from each other. Just because the tag is at the commercial rate it does not mean you need a commercial license to drive it.
2.) Per Federal guidelines a CDL is not required as long as you are not in commerce. The trick is what's commerce? If you ask some scale officials about it if they see you hauling a classic car to a car show and that car show gives out trophies then you are in commerce in their eyes as you are getting something in return for driving your big truck to and from the event. The sad part is the federal regs say as long as you are not earning winnings that require you to file a tax return then you are not for hire. The problem is getting some of the local yahoos to agree with it.
3.) Florida has a couple of interesting clauses in the state statutes. The first one is if you are hauling a race car to an organized racing event at a dedicated track and you don't have corporate sponsorship then you are exempt from needing a CDL, regardless of weight. While common sense would tell you that this should also apply to car shows, some (not all) of the officials I dealt with said "no it doesn't, that exemption is only for racing and not car shows".
4.) The other weird exemption from Florida deals with the difference between license requirements for a cargo truck and a semi in the eyes of the state. While the federal guidelines specify that a CDL is only needed for commerce, regardless of whether it's a tractor trailer truck or box truck, Florida added their own little twist to this issue. In Florida if you are driving a box truck for personal use then you can drive any size truck you want (even with a GVWR of 26,001 pounds or more) with just a regular license. But if the truck is not made to haul cargo on itself and has a fifth wheel hitch instead then if it's GVWR is over 26,000 pounds you must have at least a Class B CDL. Take off the hitch and put a flatbed in it's place and you are okay with just a regular license.
5.) Any size truck pulling an RV trailer is considered a RV combo and is exempt from CDL requirements as an RV (as long as your trip is for pleasure and not business). But if the towing vehicle is big enough (like a semi tractor) and has a GVWR over 26,000 pounds as soon as you try to drive the truck without the trailer then CDL requirements kick in.
6.) Florida no longer issues RV registration for Toterhomes. To get RV tags the vehicle can not have a gooseneck or fifth wheel type hitch on the back. Can only have a bumper pull type hitch. Plus as an RV combo you are limited to an overall length of 65 feet.
7.) Regardless of use heavy trucks must stop at all scales in Florida. IIRC if your truck is over 10,000 pounds you have to pull in to the scales. As long as your total weight is under 26,000 pounds across the scales they pretty much leave you alone and send you back to the highway. And if you're not sure about it pull over before the scales and walk up to the scale house and talk to them about whether you need to stop or not. They don't mind questions if you ask them before you get to the scales (found this out the hard way in NC when they hit me with $600 in fines for not having permits as I hit their scales at 33,000 pounds) but the do get really tee'd off if you drive right by and they think you're running their scale and they have to leave their air conditioned office to chase after you.
8.) Another gray area is what is required if you are driving a truck with a rating of 17,000 pounds and pulling a trailer with a rating of 10,000 pounds. With your weight ratings combined you are over the 26,000 pound rating level and if they think you are in commerce a CDL would be required. If you are not maxed out on weight and are still under 26,000 pounds actual weight then the weight scale official will usually send you on your way. But if you do something to piss the official off he may pull you over to check your data plates to make sure you're not overloaded. So always be nice to the scale people as they can really ruin your day real quick.
9.) If you do go over 26,000 pounds actual weight then be real careful driving out of state. This goes for any state, not just people from Florida driving out of state. The reason I say this is there are two things that kick it at this point: IFTA (International Fuel Tax Agreement) and IRP (International Registration Plan) trip permits. This can vary from state to state as some states exempt personal use from needing IFTA and IRP permits while other states classify any truck or truck/trailer combo with a weight rating of 26,001 pounds or more as commercial (regardless of use) and must have permits (I didn't when I entered NC and that's why I was hit with a $600 ticket, even though I wasn't commercial).
The best thing to do is read the state statutes about licensing and carry a copy of the statute chapter with you in case you hit a cop that sees every big truck as commercial. Also be sure to talk with state DOT officials to make sure you don't need a state DOT number. Florida doesn't require it as long as your not commercial but there are several states that do if you are over 10,000 pounds, Texas is one of them and I think NC requires it too. And when asking questions to the commercial enforcement people always ask them for the statute number that they are quoting from when they tell you you need something or don't need something so you can research it yourself and also download a copy of it from the internet to carry with you on the road.
Anyhow, sorry for the long, boring post everyone. I've been down this road many times when driving personal use semi trucks cross country on military moves (even had fun fighting Canada with their regs on our last PCS out of Alaska) and if I can help keep others from finding out what I did the hard way then I will do what I can to try to help. :)
