# Title 37 — Department of Transportation

## Article 37-06 — Multiple Vehicle Combinations

## Chapter 37-06-01 — Definitions - Equipment and Operation

### § 37-06-01-01. Definitions.

In this article, unless the context or other subject matter requires:
1. "B-train" means a truck-tractor, semitrailer, and semitrailer.
2. "Converter dolly" means an auxiliary axle assembly equipped with a fifth wheel used to
convert a semitrailer to a trailer.
3. "Double bottom" means a truck-tractor, semitrailer, and trailer or semitrailer converted to a
trailer by use of a converter dolly.
4. "Fifth wheel" means a device used to connect a truck-tractor or converter dolly to a semitrailer.
5. "Gooseneck" means a coupling device attached to the frame of a trailer or vehicle used to
connect the trailer or vehicle to a truck-tractor or to the bed of a truck or pickup truck.
6. "Pickup truck" means a small truck with a capacity of less than one ton [907.18 kilograms]
registered as a truck or as a passenger vehicle.
7. "Semitrailer" includes every vehicle of the trailer type so designed and used in conjunction
with a truck or truck-tractor that some part of its own weight and that of its own load rests upon
or is carried by a truck or truck-tractor, except that it does not include a "housetrailer" or
"mobile home".
8. "Trailer" includes every vehicle without motive power designed to carry property or
passengers wholly on its own structure and to be drawn by a motor vehicle, except that it does
not include a "housetrailer" or "mobile home", which terms mean a vehicle as defined in this
subsection which is designed and intended for use as living or sleeping quarters for people
and which is not used for commercial hauling of passengers.
9. "Triple bottom" (triple trailers) means a truck-tractor, semitrailer, and two trailers or two
semitrailers converted to trailers by use of converter dollies.
10. "Truck" includes every motor vehicle designed, used, or maintained primarily for transportation
of property.
11. "Truck-tractor" includes every motor vehicle designed and used primarily for drawing other
vehicles and not so constructed as to carry a load other than a part of the weight of the vehicle
and load so drawn.
12. "Unit" means one motor vehicle or one vehicle.

13. "Vehicle" includes every device in, upon, or by which any person or property may be
transported or drawn upon a public highway, except devices moved by human power or used
exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks.
History: Effective October 1, 1983.
General Authority: NDCC 39-12-04
Law Implemented: NDCC 39-12-04
### § 37-06-01-02. Equipment.

All vehicle combinations must comply with the applicable requirements for equipment as specified
in North Dakota Century Code chapter 39-21, and:
1. Every trailer must be equipped with a drawbar and a means of attaching the drawbar to the
towing and towed vehicles. Such drawbar must be structurally adequate for the weight being
drawn, be properly and securely mounted, provide for adequate articulation at the connection
without excessive slack at that location, and can be provided with a locking device that
prevents accidental separation of the vehicles.
2. Every trailer, including a semitrailer utilizing a converter dolly, must have safety chains or
cables installed. Such chains or cables shall be connected prior to any over-the-road
movement.
3. The lower half of a fifth wheel mounted on a truck-tractor or converter dolly must be secured to
the frame of that vehicle with properly designed brackets, mounting plates or angles, and
properly tightened bolts of adequate size and grade, or devices that provide equivalent
security. The installation shall not cause cracking, warping, or deformation of the frame. The
installation must include a device for positively preventing the lower half of the fifth wheel from
shifting on the frame to which it is attached.
4. The upper half of a fifth wheel must be fastened to the semitrailer with at least the same
security required for the installation of the lower half on a truck-tractor or converter dolly.
5. Each fifth wheel assembly must have a locking mechanism.
History: Effective October 1, 1983.
General Authority: NDCC 39-12-04
Law Implemented: NDCC 39-12-04
