Bushbaby Braked Off-Road Trailer

Once a trailer passes 750 kg gross it has to be braked, and the Bushbaby off road trailer is built to live above that line: 1 470 kg GVM, 1 100 kg of payload, run-in brakes and 215 by 15 inch wheels with 330 mm of clearance. It weighs 360 kg empty, which is light for a braked trailer and is what gives it the payload.

What the Bushbaby off road trailer is built for

The Bushbaby has been in production long enough to have been fixed rather than redesigned, which is usually the better history for a trailer that has to work far from a workshop. The body is 1 860 mm long and 1 100 mm wide inside, sitting on a 12-blade 36 inch leaf pack and an axle rated at 1 800 kg but derated to 1 500 kg in service. That gap between what the axle can take and what the trailer is licensed to carry is the reason these units survive corrugation that flattens lighter running gear.

Loading is from the rear and from the side, through a 560 by 1 020 mm rear door and a 540 by 510 mm side door, so a fridge slide can be reached without unpacking the whole trailer. The 670 mm nose cone takes the gas bottle and the recovery kit. A Sigma auto-reverse type galvanised coupler is standard, which is what allows a braked trailer to be reversed without the brakes grabbing.

Bushbaby specifications

Braked towing and payload

1 100 kg of payload is a different proposition from the unbraked trailers in this range, and it is the reason people move up to a Bushbaby. Water, a long-range fridge, spares, tools, firewood and two weeks of supplies fit inside the licensing figure rather than against it. What changes is the tow vehicle side of the equation: the trailer must be braked, your vehicle needs the braked towing capacity to match, and your licence code has to permit the combination. Those requirements sit in the National Road Traffic Act, and the vehicle handbook gives the rating. We will check both with you before you commit.

What the extra accessories version adds

• Rear drawout rack for ammunition boxes, 900 mm x 1 130 mm
• Side drawout rack, 455 mm x 1 075 mm
• Washing table with nylon storage rollers and bungee retention
• Stainless steel washing table mounting brackets
• Lockable water tank filler cap
• Zinc galvanised Sigma auto-reverse type coupler

The extended version is listed here as its own configuration with its own price. It carries 440 kg tare rather than 360 kg, so the payload drops to 1 030 kg. That is the arithmetic worth doing before choosing: the racks and table cost 70 kg of what you may legally load.

Servicing and reversing

Two questions come up on every braked trailer and both are worth answering before delivery. The first is servicing: run-in brakes need the shoes and the coupling damper checked at the intervals in the handbook, and both are ordinary parts we hold. The second is reversing. An auto-reverse coupler releases the brakes when the vehicle backs up, so a Bushbaby reverses onto a campsite like an unbraked trailer, without anyone getting out to set a catch.

Where it sits in the range

The Bushbaby is the entry point to the braked off-road trailers. Above it, the Offroader runs a 2 100 mm body at 1 530 kg gross, and the Hunter is the reinforced version of that for heavier loads. Below it, the unbraked Savuti XL packs a similar volume but carries only 370 kg. The whole range is grouped under off-road and camping trailers.

Delivery, warranty and ordering

Both configurations clear the R20 000 threshold, so delivery anywhere in South Africa is free; the detail is on our delivery page. Cover is set out under warranty and is administered by us on your behalf. Collection from Hartswater is welcome. For a written quotation on either version, including any fitments, use the quote request form or send the specification through on WhatsApp.