Weight Limit of Farm Trucks

2025-2026 Bill 806: Weight Limit of Farm Trucks - South Carolina Legislature Online

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026
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S. 806
STATUS INFORMATION
General Bill
Sponsors: Senator Chaplin
Companion/Similar bill(s): 810
Document Path: SR-0077CEM26.docx
Introduced in the Senate on January 14, 2026
Currently residing in the Senate Committee on
Transportation
Summary: Weight Limit of Farm Trucks
HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

Date

Body

Action Description with journal page number

1/14/2026

Senate

Introduced and read first time (
Senate Journal-page 11
)

1/14/2026

Senate

Referred to Committee on
Transportation
(
Senate Journal-page 11
)

View the latest
legislative information
at the website
VERSIONS OF THIS BILL
01/14/2026

A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY AMENDING
SECTION
56-5-4140
, RELATING TO GROSS WEIGHT OF VEHICLES, COMBINATIONS OF
VEHICLES, AND LOADS, SO AS TO LIMIT THE GROSS WEIGHT OF FARM TRUCKS.

B
e it enacted by the
General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

S
ECTION 1.
S
ection
56-5-4140
of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

S
ection
56-5-4140
.
(
A)(1) The gross weight
of a vehicle or combination of vehicles, operated or moved upon any section of
highway, including the interstate highway system, except where the formula in
item (4) allows for a higher weight, shall not exceed:

(
The following weight
limits do not include applicable tolerances)

23

24

(a)

Single-unit vehicle with two axles

35,000 lbs.

25

(b)

Single-unit vehicle with three axles

46,000 lbs.

26

27

(c)

Single-unit vehicle with four axles

63,500 lbs.

e
xcept, on the
interstate, vehicles must meet axle spacing requirements and corresponding
maximum overall gross weights, not to exceed 63,500 lbs., in accordance with
the table in item (4).

32

33

34

(d)

Single-unit vehicle with five or more axles

65,000 lbs.

e
xcept, on the
interstate, vehicles must meet axle spacing requirements and corresponding
maximum overall gross weights, not to exceed 65,000 lbs., in accordance with
the table in item (4).

1

2

3

(e)

Combination of vehicles with three axle

50,000 lbs.

4

5

6

(f)

Combination of vehicles with four axles

65,000 lbs.

7

8

9

(g)

Combination of vehicles with five or more
axles

73,280 lbs.

T
he gross weight
imposed upon any highway or section of highway other than the interstate by two
or more consecutive axles in tandem articulated from a common attachment to the
vehicle and spaced not less than forty inches nor more than ninety-six inches apart
shall not exceed thirty-six thousand pounds, and no one axle of any such group
of two or more consecutive axles shall exceed the load permitted for a single
axle. The load imposed on the highway by two consecutive axles, individually
attached to the vehicle and spaced not less than forty inches nor more than
ninety-six inches apart, shall not exceed thirty-six thousand pounds and no one
axle of any such group of two consecutive axles shall exceed the load permitted
for a single axle.

T
he ten percent
enforcement tolerance specified in Section
56-5-4160
applies to the vehicle
weight limits specified in item (1), and subsections (B)
,

and
(C)
, and (D)
.
However, the gross weight on a single axle operated on the interstate may not
exceed 20,000 pounds, including all enforcement tolerances; the gross weight
on a tandem axle operated on the interstate may not exceed 35,200 pounds,
including all enforcement tolerances; the overall gross weight for vehicles
operated on the interstate may not exceed 75,185 pounds, including all
enforcement tolerances except as provided in item (4).

(
2)
Enforcement tolerance is fifteen percent for a vehicle or trailer transporting
unprocessed forest products only on noninterstate routes.

(
3)
Enforcement tolerance is fifteen percent for a vehicle or trailer transporting
sod only on noninterstate routes.

(
4)
Vehicles with an overall maximum gross weight in excess of 75,185 pounds may
operate upon any section of highway in the Interstate System up to an overall
maximum of 80,000 pounds in accordance with the following:

T
he weight imposed
upon the highway by any group of two or more consecutive axles may not, unless
specially permitted by the Department of Public Safety, exceed an overall gross
weight produced by the application of the following formula:

W
= 500 (LN/N-1 + 12N
+ 36)

I
n the formula W
equals overall gross weight on any group of two or more consecutive axles to
the nearest 500 pounds, L equals distance in feet between the extreme of any
group of two or more consecutive axles, and N equals number of axles in the
group under consideration.

A
s an exception, two
consecutive sets of tandem axles may carry a gross load of 68,000 pounds if the
overall distance between the first and last axles of the consecutive sets of
tandem axles is 36 feet or more. The formula is expressed by the following table:

7

8

9

10

Distance in feet

Maximum load in pounds carried

11

between the

on any group of 2

12

13

14

extremes of any

of 2 or more consecutive axles

15

16

group of 2 or

17

18

more consecutive

19

axles

20

2 axles

3 axles

4 axles

5 axles

6 axles

7 axles

21

4

35,200

22

5

35,200

23

6

35,200

24

7

35,200

25

8 and less

35,200

35,200

26

more than 8

38,000

42,000

27

9

39,000

42,500

28

10

40,000

43,500

29

11

44,000

30

12

45,000

50,000

31

13

45,500

50,500

32

14

46,500

51,500

33

15

47,500

52,000

34

16

48,000

52,500

58,000

1

17

48,500

53,500

58,500

2

18

49,500

54,000

59,000

3

19

50,500

54,500

60,000

4

20

51,000

55,500

60,500

66,000

5

21

51,500

56,000

61,000

66,500

6

22

52,500

56,500

61,500

67,000

7

23

53,000

57,500

62,500

68,000

8

24

54,000

58,000

63,000

68,500

74,000

9

25

54,500

58,500

63,500

69,000

74,500

10

26

55,500

59,500

64,000

69,500

75,000

11

27

56,000

60,000

65,000

70,000

75,500

12

28

57,000

60,500

65,500

71,000

76,500

13

29

57,500

61,500

66,000

71,500

77,000

14

30

58,500

62,000

66,500

72,000

77,500

15

31

59,000

62,500

67,500

72,500

78,000

16

32

60,000

63,500

68,000

73,000

78,500

17

33

64,000

68,500

74,000

79,000

18

34

64,500

69,000

74,500

80,000

19

35

65,500

70,000

75,000

20

36

68,000

70,500

75,500

21

37

68,000

71,000

76,000

22

38

68,000

71,500

77,000

23

39

68,000

72,500

77,500

24

40

68,500

73,000

78,000

25

41

69,500

73,500

78,500

26

42

70,000

74,000

79,000

27

43

70,500

75,000

80,000

28

44

71,500

75,500

29

45

72,000

76,000

30

46

72,500

76,500

31

47

73,500

77,500

32

48

74,000

78,000

33

49

74,500

78,500

34

50

75,500

79,000

35

51

76,000

80,000

1

52

76,500

2

53

77,500

3

54

78,000

4

55

78,500

5

56

79,500

6

57

80,000

(
B)
On the interstate and noninterstate highways of this State, any over-the-road
bus as defined in Title 49 of the United States Code, motorhome, or any vehicle
which is regularly and exclusively used as an intrastate public agency transit
passenger bus as defined in Title 49 of the United States Code, is excluded
from the axle spacing requirements in subsection (A). However, these vehicles
are limited to a maximum single axle weight limit of twenty-four thousand
pounds, including all enforcement tolerances.

(
C)
Except on the interstate highway system:

(
1)
Dump trucks, dump trailers, trucks carrying agricultural products, concrete
mixing trucks, fuel oil trucks, line trucks, and trucks designated and
constructed for special type work or use are not required to conform to the
axle spacing requirements of this section. However, the vehicle is limited to a
weight of twenty thousand pounds for each axle plus scale tolerances and the
maximum gross weight of these vehicles may not exceed the maximum weight
allowed by subsection (A)(1) for the appropriate number of axles, plus
allowable scale tolerances.

(
2)
Concrete mixing trucks which operate within a fifteen-mile radius of their home
base are not required to conform to the requirements of this section. However,
these vehicles are limited to a maximum load of the rated capacity of the
concrete mixer, the true gross load not to exceed sixty-six thousand pounds.
All of these vehicles shall have at least three axles each with brake-equipped
wheels.

(
3)
Well-drilling, boring rigs, and tender trucks are not required to conform to
the axle spacing requirements of this section. However, the vehicle is limited
to seventy thousand pounds gross vehicle weight and twenty-five thousand pounds
for each axle plus scale tolerances.

(
D) On the noninterstate highways of
this State, a farm truck is limited to a maximum weight limit of ninety thousand
pounds, including all enforcement tolerances.

S
ECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval
by the Governor.

----XX---

This web page was last updated on January 14, 2026 at 1:52 PM