70-Hour / 8-Day Rule Calculator
How many hours do you have left on your 70? Punch in your last 7 days of on-duty time and see what's available today — and what rolls back at midnight.
Enter your last 7 days and hit RUN MY RECAP
How this calculator works
The 70-hour rule is a rolling window, not a Monday-to-Sunday week. The calculator adds up the on-duty day totals you type in — the same numbers your ELD recap screen shows — and subtracts from 70 to get what you can legally work today. At midnight the oldest day falls out of the window and its hours come back to you. That returning time is your recap, and the ticket projects it: tomorrow's hours are 70 minus what's left after tonight's drop, minus whatever you burn today. The 60-hour/7-day rule — carriers that don't operate every day — flips the math to a 6-day lookback, same logic.
available today = 70 − used
at midnight the "7 days ago" hours drop off:
available tomorrow = 70 − (used − day 7 + hours worked today)
Estimates only: this tool works off the day totals you type in. Your ELD is the official record, and FMCSA regulations (49 CFR Part 395) are the final word — verify there before you roll.
Two worked examples
Example 1 — how much can I work today?
Your last seven days off the recap screen read 11, 10, 9, 8, 11, 10, and 5 hours — 64 total, so you've got 6 hours available today. Tonight the oldest day (5 hours) rolls off the back. Work your full 6 today and tomorrow's math is 70 − (64 − 5 + 6) = 5 hours. That's the trap of a heavy week: the recap only hands back what you worked eight days ago, and light old days mean short tomorrows.
Example 2 — why the order of your days matters
Different week: 5, 11, 11, 10, 9, 8, 11 — same neighborhood of total (65), leaving 5 hours today. But look at what's rolling off tonight: an 11-hour day. Work your 5 hours and tomorrow gives you 70 − (65 − 11 + 5) = 11 fresh hours. Same tired week, completely different tomorrow — because a heavy day is aging out instead of a light one. Drivers who run recaps well think exactly this way: check what's dropping tonight before deciding whether today is a push day or a laundry day.
From the road
The number to tattoo somewhere is 8:45 — run under eight hours forty-five of on-duty time a day and the 70/8 recap feeds you forever; on 60/7 it's about 8:34. That's the pace of a sustainable week. Drivers who live on recaps guard the on-duty line like money, because it is: a 45-minute fuel stop logged on-duty three times a day is two driving hours gone from your week. Get released at the dock and logged off-duty; flag time correctly and honestly — the 70 only eats what actually goes on the line.
The 34-hour restart is the other lever, and the question is when, not whether. If the last seven days were all 10s and 11s, your recaps are rich and a restart wastes them; take the restart when the days aging out are small and tomorrow's math looks like Example 1. And days roll at midnight home-terminal time: a West Coast driver delivering in Georgia gets recap hours at 3 a.m. local, not midnight. This calculator handles your weekly 70; the daily 11-hour driving limit, 14-hour window, and 30-minute break run underneath it, and the tightest clock always wins. The whole system is walked through in our guide to the 70-hour rule explained.
FAQ
How does the 70-hour 8-day rule work?
Property-carrying drivers at carriers operating every day of the week can't drive after 70 on-duty hours in any rolling 8-day window. Every midnight the oldest day falls out of the window and those hours come back. Carriers that don't run daily use 60 hours in 7 days instead.
What are recap hours?
The hours that roll off the back of your window at midnight and become available again. Worked 5 hours on the day dropping out tonight? You get about 5 hours back tomorrow — minus whatever you burn today.
Does a 34-hour restart reset my 70?
Yes. 34+ consecutive hours off duty or in the sleeper resets your 60/70-hour clock to zero. It's optional — you can also just run recaps and let hours roll back day by day.
What counts as on-duty time?
All driving plus everything else you do for the carrier while not off duty: fueling, inspections, loading, waiting at the dock when not released, paperwork, and work for any other employer. Off-duty and qualifying sleeper time don't count.
How many hours a day can I run and never hit the wall?
70 ÷ 8 = 8 hours 45 minutes a day on the 70/8 rule (about 8:34 on 60/7). Stay at or under that pace and the recap keeps feeding you hours indefinitely — it's the rhythm steady recap fleets are built on.
When does the day actually roll over?
Midnight in your home terminal's time zone, not where the truck is parked. An LA-based driver on the East Coast gets recap hours at 3 a.m. local — check what terminal time your ELD is configured to.