THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 

OFTEXAS 

Honorable. Homer Garrison, Jr., Director 

Texas Department of PublIcSafety 

CampMabry 

Austin 9, Texas 

Dear 9lr : Opinion NO. 0-7196 

Re: Whether a properly registered 

truck and trailer which does not 

exceed 96 Inches in width, can be 

used to have and combine over 108 

inches in width without a special 

permit and related question. 

Your recent opinion request reads as follows: 

'Mr. A, the owner of a commercial truck and trailer, 

properly licensed in the State of Texas, contracts wlth 

Mr. B, the owner of a thrashing combine which Is an lmplement of husbandry, to transport on this commercial 

motor vehicle the said combine from Amarillo, Texas, to 

Beeville, Texas, for a stated sum of money for the above 

transportation. 

'The said truck and trailer are under 96 Inches In 

width; therefore, legal to move on Texas highways. But 

after the said combine is loaded on thfs commercial 

motor vehicle, it Is over 108 inches In width at the 

widest point; thus, maki.ng it an overwidth vehicle under 

Texas laws. 

"1 0 Does this truck and trailer, loaded with thfs 

combine, require a specialpertit from the State Highway 

Department to move over Texas State highways? 

“2 . Thus loaded and moving as a commercial load, 

is this an i.mplement of husbandry fn so far as t$af’fic 

regulations of the State of Texas are concerned% 

Article 6675a-2, V.A.C.S. provides in part as follows: 

II 

. . . . Owners of farm tractors, farm trailers, 

farm semi-trailers, and implements of husbandrv, 

operated or moved temporarily uoon the hlghways shall 

not be required to register such fsrm tractors, farm 
Honorable Homer Garrison, Jr., Page 2 o -7196 

trailers, farm semi-trailers, 

bandry; . e . . ." 

or imolements of hus- 

(Emphasis ours). 

Article 6675a-1, paragraph (r), V.A.C.S. reads as 

follows: 

“(r) 'Implements of husbandry' shall mean farm 

implements, machinery and tools as used in tilling the 

soil, but shall not Include any passenger car or truck." 

Article 6675a-1, paragraph (q), V.A.C.S. provides as 

follows: 

'o 

,,,,a$$ By ' 

erated or moved temporarily upon the 

is meant the operation or conveying between 

different farms, and the operation or conveyance from 

the owner's farm to the place where his farm produce 

is prepared for market or where same Is actually 

marketed and return." 

Article 6675a-8b, V.A.C.S. provides as follows: 

"No motor vehicle shall be registered and licensed 

which has a total outside width, including any load thereon, 

of more than ninety-six (96) inches, except that the width 

of a farm tractor shall not exceed nine (9) feet, and excepting further, that the limitations as to size of vehicle 

shall not apply to implements of husbandry, and highway 

building and maintenance machinery; temporarily propelled 

or moved upon the public highway. 

Article 6675a-6, V.A.C.S, provides in part as follows: 

The term 'gross weight' as used in this 

se&lo; sha1.i mean the actual weight of the vehicle fully 

equipped with body, and other equipment, as certified by 

any Official Public Weigher or any License and Weight 

Inspector of the State Highway Department, plus Its net 

carrying capacity. 'Net carrying capacity' of any vehicle 

except a bus, as used in this section, shall be the weight 

of the heaviest net load to be carried on the vehicle being 

registered; provided said net carrying capacity shall in 

no,case be less than the manufacturer's rated carrying 

capacity. . . D -' 

Article 6701a, Section 1, V.A.C.S. provides: 

"When any person, firm or corporation shall desire to 

operate over a state highway super-heavy OP over-size equipment for the transportation of such commodities as cannot 
Honorable Homer Garrison, Jr., page 3 o-7196 

be reasonably dismantled, where the gross weight or size 

exceeds the limits allowed by law to be transported over a 

state highway the State Highway Department may, upon application, since a permit for the operation of said equipment 

with said commodities, when said State Highway Department 

is of the opinion that the same may be operated without 

material damage to the highway. Provided, however, that 

nothing in this Act shall prevent the full control of such 

movements or operations on the streets of cities and towns 

by the ordinances of such nmnicipa1ities.I' 

After carefully considering the above quoted statutes, 

as well as the related statutes in reference to registration, we 

have arrived at the following conclusions: 

1. That the truck and trailer in question can lawfully 

move upon the highways of this State, and carry any load that 

does not exceed either the gross veight for which it is registered 

(and in no event can exceed 48,000 pounds gross weight) OP the 

legal width of 96 inches without a specia 1 ,permi~t as provided in 

Article 67ola. 

2. That the Truck and trailer in question cannot lawfully move upon the highways of this State, when its gross weight 

exceeds the gross weight for which it is registered or the load 

thereon exceeds 96 inches in width, without a special permit as 

provided in Article 6701-a. 

3. That a special permit cannot be obtained for said 

truck and trailer to haul super-heavy OP over-size equipment, if 

such equipment can be reasonably dismantled. 

4. That the truck and trailer loaded with the combine 

when being transported, as stated in your opinion request, 1~s not 

an "Implement of husbandry" in that the definition of such phrase, 

as above set forth, explicitly states that same "shall not include 

any passenger car or truck". 

5. Even though it were considered an 'Implement of 

husbandry", It could not be transported as stated in your letter 

without a special permit, in that iC, would not he "operated 01" 

moved temporarily upon the highways'!, as that phrase is defined 

in Article 6675a-1. 

Pour specific questions can theref’ore be answered 

numerically as follows: 

1, The truck and trailer, loaded with the combine in 

question, requires a special permit from the State Highway Department to move over Texas State Highways, in the manner stated in 
Honorable Homer Garrison, Jr., page 4 o-7196 

your letter (if the combine cannot be reasonably dismantled, 80 

as not to exceed either the gross weight or 96 inches in width). 

2. The truck and trailer, loaded with such combine, 

moving as a commercial load, is not an implement of husbandry in 

so far as traffic regulations of the State of Texas are concerned. 

We trust that we have fully answered your inquiry. 

Yours very truly 

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

By s/w,V. Geppert 

W,V. Geppert 

Assistant 

WVG :MS :wc 

APPROVED APR 12, 1946 

s/Wm. J. Fanning 

(Acting) ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

Approved Opinion Committee By s/BWB Chairman