I have a bunch of #3 Victor & B&L longsprings. I bought these traps new, and I haven't used them for years. Just curious, if they were your traps and you wanted to put them on the line, what modifications would you do to make them better? Pan tension, is a big concern. Thanks.

If you really serious, put PIT kits on them. And center mount the chain, and add swivels.

-- Hal

Hal, yeah, I'm serious. I was hoping that someone came up with the "miracle-cure" for longsprings. You're a big longspring fan, or used to be, if memory serves? I've never installed a PIT system on any of my equipment, that's why my longsprings, jumps haven't seen daylight for years. If I could get the "pan tension" to 1.5# or better, I'd be satisfied.

Then install the PIT kits. They're $39.00 per dozen.

-- Hal

Either pit them or get Dobbins ADUSTMENT OF LEGHOLD TRAPS
FOR GREATER PROFIT

I read the description about the PIT system. Is 4 # of pan-tension, as light as it will go on a #3 LS? Or can you tweak them some?

I think Charlie, reccommended re-modeling the "hump", and installing a brass bolt for the tension. Seems labor intense.

It can be done that way, but it's a whole lot of work. Remember, Charles wrote that book before the PIT system was developed.

-- Hal

I have made some #3 ls's pan tension adjustable.Belive me it is much more cost efficient to buy the PIT system for $40 a dz.

I have tweeked the pit pans some, BUT not to my liking. The problem I have always had with the pit system is you bend the dog to change the pan tension. What happens when you catch a coyote and it bends the dog just a little? It could happen. Do you change the trap after every catch to check pan tension? I dont have time for that.

I put the hump cross piece in a vice to straightin it out, weld a new cross piece to it, already set up for a post pan.

After reading the response from ric I went to the shop and put a post pan on a #3 I traded for. 20 minutes from start to finish. It takes longer to build the "ears" the pan bolts to than any thing else.

I'm not trying to start a argument or take a sale away from Hal. Just trying to show there is more than one way to modify a trap.

"The problem I have always had with the pit system is you bend the dog to change the pan tension. What happens when you catch a coyote and it bends the dog just a little? It could happen. Do you change the trap after every catch to check pan tension? I dont have time for that."

In truth bending the dog just a little is going to cause very little difference in pan tension. One of the advantages of the PIT system is that it durable and replicable from one setting of the trap to the next.

You will get infinitely more variation in pan tension from catch to catch with a nut and bolt system which relies on friction, and that is a system that requires constant adjustment. On a PIT system there is nothing to adjust, thus nothing to go out of adjustment.

-- Hal