Hey guys,

a while back i made a thread asking if there were any flatbed plans. well i have been researching it alot and found some beds i liked but i never got a clear answer about some laws. I figure now that i got them i will tell people on here so that anyone in WA wont get screwed into a ticket (like my friend).

Anyways i had heard that you needed something to cover the tops of the tires, like a wheel well. Well i asked a state trooper(4 actually) and he said nope. The only laws are that your mudflaps have to be as wide as your tire and go down halfway through the axle.

Well now that i got this next week i am going to buy some big mudflaps and tear the old rusty bed off!

 

i'm sure there's no problem about not having wheel wells, i've seen all kinds of homeade flatbeds here and i don't think they have problems with the law. it's more of a mudflap type thing i think

 

I think ya do still need wheel-wells...and I'm really suprised the trooper said that. Here's the text that might pertain to it...not real clear - there might be more somewhere else in the laws...

RCW 46.37.500
Fenders or splash aprons.

(1) Except as authorized under subsection (2) of this section, no person may operate any motor vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer that is not equipped with fenders, covers, flaps, or splash aprons adequate for minimizing the spray or splash of water or mud from the roadway to the rear of the vehicle. All such devices shall be as wide as the tires behind which they are mounted and extend downward at least to the center of the axle.

(2) A motor vehicle that is not less than forty years old or a street rod vehicle that is owned and operated primarily as a collector's item need not be equipped with fenders when the vehicle is used and driven during fair weather on well-maintained, hard-surfaced roads.

 

damn. i thought i was set but now i get another source of info. I will just have some plywood stick out to cover the tires until i finish the bed.

 

I'm not a Philly lawyer, but I think a set of mud flaps or 'splash aprons' would fill the bill. "fenders, covers, flaps, or splash aprons adequate for minimizing the spray or splash of water or mud from the roadway to the rear of the vehicle." This statement seems to me to indicate any of the items listed would do. But I think you would have to brace or support flaps so they didn't flare back in the wind and no longer function.

 

good idea, but it'll be like a long bed tying to pull a boat out of a launch. slicker than owl snot

 

I read that to mean Mud flaps are good to go!!

Mount them to be easy to remove there are times if you venture off road you will tear them off.

nothing worse then spray blinding one going down the road.

 

Interesting bump to an 8 year old thread