Mossie 1/2 Ton with Rails

Feed bags, a lawnmower, garden refuse, a compressor and two bales of lucerne. The Mossie trailer with rails is built for the ordinary weekday load rather than the once a year house move, and the published figures say so plainly: a 160 kg tare mass, a 700 kg gross vehicle mass and a 540 kg payload behind a 1 850 mm body.

Mossie trailer with rails specifications

What 540 kg of payload actually carries

Payload here is the 700 kg gross rating less the 160 kg the trailer weighs empty, and it is the only figure a weighbridge cares about. In practice 540 kg covers about ten bags of cement, a garden clearing load, a quad bike or a packed family camping load. It does not cover a pallet of face brick or river sand heaped to the rail tops, because on a body this size the mass limit arrives long before the volume does.

Features on the Mossie body

• Deep body with a 430 mm floor to rail height and hinged rails for open loads
• Hinged tailgate that drops flat for loading a mower or a drum
• Rigidised floor on a rigid chassis, in zinc or electro galvanised steel
• Durable axle with larger bearings, rated at 750 kg
• Adjustable 6 inch jockey wheel and support legs on the rear corners
• Spare wheel on a lockable bracket
• Tie down lugs in the floor and on the body
• Weather cover available as an option

Payload, braking and licensing

At 700 kg gross this trailer sits below the 750 kg mark where South African law starts to require a braking system, and the published specification confirms that no brakes are fitted. The tow vehicle therefore does all the stopping, so match it to a vehicle and tow bar rated for the load rather than assuming. Current towing requirements are set out in the National Road Traffic Act, which is a better guide than licence codes quoted second hand.

How it compares with the bigger flatdecks

This is the shortest deck in the group. Step up to the Mini Flatdeck half ton trailer with rails and the body grows to 2 060 mm and the axle rating to 1 250 kg, at the cost of 90 kg more tare and a lower published payload of 450 kg. That is the trade: the Mossie carries more mass, the Mini Flatdeck carries longer objects on a stiffer chassis. The rest of the non-braked utility trailer range is arranged the same way, by deck length and axle rating.

What the extra money buys

We also stock a budget range covering similar jobs at roughly half this price, and for a light weekend load that range does the work. What you buy here is documentation and metal: a published tare mass and gross vehicle mass you can take to a weighbridge, a galvanised body and floor, a stated 750 kg axle rating, a stated leaf spring specification and a spare wheel on a lockable bracket. For a trailer that works every week, those published numbers are the difference.

Delivery, warranty and ordering

This unit is priced above R20 000, so delivery anywhere in South Africa is free, and collection from our yard in Hartswater in the Northern Cape is always an option. TRAILERS SA is a retailer rather than a manufacturer, so the cover is the builder warranty, which we administer on your behalf, with the terms set out on the warranty page. For a weather cover or a towing check against your own vehicle, send the details through the quote form.

Towing and setting the Mossie up

A trailer this light is easy to reverse and easy to manhandle by hand in a yard, which is half of why smallholders keep buying the size. Set the jockey wheel so the drawbar sits level when hitched, load the heaviest item over the axle, and keep a positive weight on the tow ball rather than balancing the load behind the wheels. Strap through the floor lugs instead of over the rails on dense loads, check tyre pressures against the placard before a long run, and grease the bearings on the schedule the builder sets out.

Is this the right size for you

Choose it if your loads are heavy but short, if the trailer will live behind a bakkie or a mid size car, and if 540 kg covers what you move. Choose a longer deck for fencing, ladders or sheeting over about 1 800 mm. Every figure on this page comes from the published specification for the model.