321E.7 - LOAD LIMITS PER AXLE.
321E.7 LOAD LIMITS PER AXLE. 1. The gross weight on any axle of any vehicle or combination of vehicles traveling under a permit issued in accordance with the provisions of this chapter shall not exceed the maximum axle load prescribed in section 321.463; except that cranes being temporarily moved on streets, roads, or highways may have a gross weight of twenty-four thousand pounds on any single axle; and construction machinery being temporarily moved on streets, roads, or highways may have a gross weight of thirty-six thousand pounds on any single axle equipped with a minimum size twenty-six point five-inch by twenty-five-inch flotation pneumatic tires and a maximum gross weight of twenty thousand pounds on any single axle equipped with minimum size eighteen-inch by twenty-five-inch flotation pneumatic tires, with the department authorized to adopt rules to permit the use of tire sizes and weights within the minimum and maximum specifications provided in this section, provided that the total gross weight of the vehicle or a combination of vehicles does not exceed a maximum of one hundred twenty-six thousand pounds; and except that a manufacturer of machinery or equipment manufactured or assembled in Iowa may be granted a permit for the movement of such machinery or equipment mounted on pneumatic tires with axle loads exceeding the maximum axle load prescribed in section 321.463 for distances not to exceed twenty-five miles at a speed not greater than twenty miles per hour. The movement of such machinery or equipment shall be over a specified route between the place of assembly or manufacture and a storage area, shipping point, proving ground, experimental area, weighing station, or another manufacturing plant. 2. The gross weight on any one axle of any vehicle or combination of vehicles traveling under a permit issued in accordance with this chapter shall not exceed the maximum axle load prescribed in section 321.463; except that any one axle on a vehicle or combination of vehicles transporting construction machinery shall be allowed a one thousand pound weight tolerance, provided the total gross weight of the vehicle or combination of vehicles does not exceed the gross weight allowed by the permit. 3. Special mobile equipment, as defined in section 321.1, subsection 75, is not subject to the requirements for distance in feet between the extremes of any group of axles or the extreme axles of the vehicle or combination of vehicles as required by this chapter when being moved upon the highways if the operator has a permit issued under this chapter. 4. Notwithstanding subsections 1 and 2, a self-propelled implement of husbandry traveling under a permit issued pursuant to section 321E.8A may exceed the maximum axle loads prescribed under section 321.463 only when operated on a noninterstate highway in a county covered under the permit, provided the weight on any one axle does not exceed twenty-five thousand pounds, and provided the current and valid permit is carried in the vehicle. However, a vehicle traveling under a permit issued pursuant to section 321E.8A is not exempt from posted weight limitations on bridges.
Section History: Early Form [C31, 35, § 5067-d7, -d8; C39, § 5035.16; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, § 321.467; C71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, § 321E.7]
Section History: Recent Form 83 Acts, ch 116, § 4; 96 Acts, ch 1089, § 7, 8; 96 Acts, ch 1152, § 20; 97 Acts, ch 100, §7; 2003 Acts, ch 8, §20, 29; 2007 Acts, ch 143, §19; 2008 Acts, ch 1124, §10 Referred to in § 321.463, 321E.1, 321E.8A, 321E.9A, 321E.14