Figured I'd chime in since there's so much mis-information on here. First hydraulics licenses. They are required for machines that lift more than 500 pounds, over 10 feet, or have 1/4 cubic yard bucket or bigger. Exceptions: dozers, pavers, rollers, manlift equipment (scissor lifts, bucket trucks, boom lifts, etc.), equipment operated by DPW I believe dont quote me on that one though because I believe their 'training program" all don't require licenses, but skidsteers, mini excavators, etc. do.
1.) If you are a homeowner and want to rent equipment to use on YOUR privately owned land the rental place is required to train you on all equipment being rented and give you a 2 week temp. license. If you leave your property you need a hydraulics license.
2.) If you own equipment that you use off of your own property, you need a license to operate no matter what. Even if there is a foreman with a license on the job, if you are behind the controlls in MA, you need a license.
If you are in MA or NH and are interested in obtaining a license I would recommend the Peterson school. They offer a 2A/ 1C prep course or a 1B prep course once a week. When my dad got his license 30 years ago, they used to do the tests there, thats no longer the case. You don't need to attend the course, but if you do theres no reason you should fail the test. You apply for the test through Mass DPS (department of public safety) When you apply, say its June 1st, you won't get a letter in the mail for up to a month, maybe a month and a half, its a very slow process. The letter comes in the middle of the month, and they do the test the last friday or first friday of every month at four different locations. North shore location when i took mine is Bunker Hill CC. Real easy, read the study material from The Peterson School, study it over again 2 days before the test, and the night before/day of the test and you should be fine. You cant take material in with you to the test so leave it in the car. You have to renew your license every 2 years. Just send in passport size photo, your money, and you need to renew your medical card every 2 years also, they need an up to date copy of that also.
As far as hydraulic license classifications 1C is for forklifts/lull's. 1B covers 1B and 1C, 1A covers 1A, 1B, and 1C. 2C covers wheel loaders (skid steers and wheel loaders) 2B covers wheeled excavators (for instance cat M318 and backhoes also), and 2A covers tracked excavators. Again 2B covers 2B and 2C. 2A covers 2A,B, and C.
Honestly it makes no sense to only get a 2B or 2C. If you are going to be getting a hydraulics license go for the 2A/1C. That covers you for lulls, forklifts, loaders, skid steers, excavators, backhoes and also all the equipment you dont need a license for (pavers, rollers, dozers, graders, man lifts etc.) If there's a chance of you operating cranes you would want to take the 2A/1B license exam, unless you are going to be running $1,000,000+ cranes you most likely wont need the 1A
I personally have my 2A/1C hydraulics, and my Class A cdl (air brakes, combo vehicles, tanker, doubles/triples endorsements) I'd rather not continue typing about cdl's because the rmv does a better job on posting info on that, but if someone has a specific question on cdl's I would be glad to answer questions. The cdl test is 180 degress different in terms of difficulty to obtain
