Two pictures of MB550’s.
The lugs and the formed jaws.

All my 550 offsets have the formed jaws. I just got a few from Cabela’s and they sent the ones with the lugs. (free shipping, good price and Cabela’s bucks)

I thought the lugs were a previous production that was no longer made.

What gives?

ps ... the ones from Cabela’s were very rough and had severe grind marks on them. On the top of the jaw, like they were trying to get rid of bad casting marks. Really weird.

I even looked to make sure they hadn’t sent some of those new Duke traps by mistake.

Interesting. I got a couple dz from Cabelas last year. I’ll have to go look and see what I have. I’ve bought MB 550’s for about five years now. New and used; from different sources. Have to see what i’ve got. I don’t have any of the first MB 550’s that came out. Had a few at one time but sold them.

Could call MTP and ask them what/why the difference.

Cabala’s and Bass Pro still have quantities of the old traps per MBT.

Dang, like my first thread and I answered my own question.

Lugs or no lugs, that’s a nice looking enlarged pan. I don’t think there’s a better pair in the trapping world then Tims 550s with Mikes 550 expanded pans. Can you imagine how much money could be made if they paired up and made an option to get a stock pan like Mike Kelly’s pan on the 550? It could be the 550 cat special. Add it to the MB cat trapper production line with the MB #2 cast jaw double long spring with an enlarged pan. Just a thought..........

Not a bad idea,cat trapper.I could see that one selling.

I really like that pan on my 550’s.

Stop giving Tim ideas to help get my money. He's doing a fine job already.

Or how about a bridger 3 dogless with cast jaws

If he made a 6inch inside spread, cast jaw, double longspring with a big pan!!!!!!! I'd have to remortgage the house and the wife would have to go back to work!

I'm sure Tim and Rob are paying attention. Be patient Trappers!

Yes

This^^^

Here is my idea of what they should make.

An MB600 with jaw spread right in the middle between the 550 and 650.
It should have offset cast jaws.
2 coil springs unless 4 are necessary to function properly, but if so the springs less stout than on the 650.
It should have real levers like on the 550 NOT wire levers like on the 650.
Since it will have a larger jaw spread, it should have a proportionally larger sized pan.
The nuts on the bottom of the trap should be tack welded so they will never come loose
Chain and swivel should remain the same.

Here it is.I wouldn't weld the nuts.You may have to disassemble and repair the trap later.They use all lock nuts anyway.I've never had a problem.

The jaw spread is 6 1/8" and it is wider than the 650,hinge to hinge.It is actually a fraction lighter than the 550.

WOW!! Taximan. Would you be willing to make some of those to sell??

The Taxi mod got my head spinning , Had Stalker do a few with the Bridger dogless system. They worked flawless. But they are an expensive and difficult modification. Now it's in Tims and Robs hands.... be patient..

In my mind it should have Thick cast jaws, 6 inch jaw spread, 4 coils, 3/16th offsets, dogless, And be legal in all states and Provinces.. I've been runnin 550s for close to 10 seasons now, never had a nut come loose or anything else that needed maintained . I go thru all my traps after season ends, with 550s a steel brush and a bath is all that's needed!

If you could just take a 550 and “inflate it” into the same trap with a six inch jaw spread.

That right there would be perfection.

Used to be called the "3N" and "4N" victor
If MTP would put cast jaws on the #4 bridger you'd have it

Taximan - that is a beautiful prototype!

Are you satisfied with the standard 550 size pan? It looks a bit small, but maybe works fine.

I have not ever had problems with the nuts, just an extra touch that is unnecessary.

Do you believe the geometry is strong enough to take a beating like the 550?

Where did you put the spring power? Less than the 650? Did you use 4 springs from a 550?

The levers look plenty high. How is the lockup with a 1” dowel?

Again, beautiful work! You made something that doesn’t exist!

Yes,I don't mind a standard sized pan and it was designed to fit between the levers.It is plenty strong as the jaws are modified 650 jaws.The lock up will come all the to the top with a coyote foot in it.Actually,I made the lock up come up a little too high and it makes them a little hard to set.The next ones,I will correct that.

The MB 600s Stalker modified for me, he did not change the lock up. He used the same as the 650 jaw already had. They performed flawless for 7 yotes. I used JC Conner's Lightning springs designed for the 550 for the helper springs. He did grind the contact points of the jaws to create 3/16th offsets instead of 1/4. Hope this helps Tax..

Just got some more 550’s from MBT.
I was disappointed to see that the holes in the levers are now wider then the last ones I got.
It allows the levers to go past the stops one one side, jamming up the trap, making it almost impossible to reset without hitting it with a mallet.

When you have a great product, stop changing things.

If you catch a non target and want to let it go, do you think this would present a problem? I was thinking of purchasing more 550’s but may consider getting them from Cabela’s since I read they are selling the older MBs.

Were they offset or reg jaws? I just got some offsets from them a couple of weeks ago and they seem to be ok.

Regular jaws.

I bet if you call them they will fix to your satisfaction.

I have an email into them.

Funny I had to just email them about some Bridger #2 jaws I ordered. I ordered a pair of regular jaws and they sent me one regular and one offset.

Taximan, care to elaborate on what all you did to make up that prototype. Did you have to change levers, lengthen/shorten any metal pieces??

J Brooks,I'm pretty pressed for time right now but will get back to you next week

Thanks!

J.Brooks,I made mine using a 550 and adding inside lam,650 jaws.The jaws had to be spread a little because there is more distance between 550 pivot points than on the 650.Then,the jaws had to be reshaped,where the lever rides up.There is plenty of metal for this.The jaw tips needed reduced a little so I rounded the square edges.

The wider jaw spread needs a longer dog so I got a 1 7/8" rod dog.This changes the geometry of the trigger setup,putting where the jaw rests on the pan,closer to the dog eye,which reduces pan tension too much for my liking.The standard 550 dog rests on the jaw mid way.Trying to correct this,I bent the cross frame out,a little and added 550 helper springs.The are adequate now but I'd still like to have them 2 coiled.I still want to tweak this a little by filing the dog notch and maybe a longer dog.I think I can get it worked out.

They did.

Great company to deal with. Mistakes are made but they make the appropriate changes.
That’s all you can ask.

Thanks for the description!

I have a love / hate relationship with the MB550. I really love how well the trap is made and that the price is almost reasonable to old skinflint.
What I hate and wish would be changed is the dog / pan set up.
Growing up and using traps that allowed one to adjust the pan tension without setting up jigs, benders, getting the trigonometry skills brushed, makes working on these much more difficult. I simply am not great at figuring stuff like that out to get a reliable pan tension.
Unlike a lot of pros on here, I may want to set the trap for coyotes one week and grey fox another week. Quite a difference on pan tension. Also, because I am a general all around dub trapper I want to catch that small female fisher or grey fox that visits one of my coyote sets. Not living in the land of milk and honey it is kind of nice to be able to take what comes down the trail, in order to pay for gas and maybe make some money. To me a predator set is just that in my neck of the woods.

The dog and pan tension system like you said is the reason I steer clear of them also.

The dog is a pain in the butt to straighten out with a plier when your in a hurry

Everyone has opinions, some of them are funny buy hey its what keeps the world turning, with a slight vibration but none the less turning.

What pan tension do y’all run for fox and whatever else you think you can’t catch? Mine came factory set at about 3# and I catch everything from feral cats to coyotes, including foxes.
Now mind you, I don’t get snow or have any way to see what I might be missing, but I figure with that size range of critters they can’t be that bad.

I like my pan tension between 2.84 and 2.96 but that's just a personal preference

Hey Mac, your post made me do this. I use mostly 550's because it is almost Maine legal out of the box, just need to add a mid-chain swivel. I just went out and took a series of photographs to show my method of adjusting pan tension. First photo shows a trap that is ready to use after some cleaning and waxed. Note the ball of wax on the end of the dog.



A tap on the end of the dog with a file removes most of the wax. Then I file the night latch four or five strokes with the file. See next photo.



The trick to lower pan tension is the down angle of the night latch. The more down the lighter it will be . For more pan tension just file the back of the night latch deeper. The next photo shows the angle to file to lower the pan tension.



It only took me a minute or two to set this trap to about two pounds measured at the center of the pan. It measures only about one pound at the far edge of the pan. I personally use more pan tension as when I set a coyote trap I only want coyotes.

To make a set I just pick out a trap file the dog and attach it to my chain stake. The filing only takes a minute or two. I have tried dukes, bridgers, montanas, montgomerys, victors, no-BS Jr's. and MB's. The MB 550 has become my go to trap as it requires very little work to make it Maine legal and to keep it working. That being said the no-bs is the only trap that is Maine legal out of the box (needs to ordered with mid-chain swivel). I only have 24 no-BSs so the 550s are my go to trap since I have about 10 dozen of them.

One of these is all you need. Period.




https://www.minntrapprod.com/mobile/Bob-Custers-B2B-Trap-Bender/productinfo/B2B-01/

Yep, I set mine at 2.5 # pan center with the bender and catch reds,greys,coon and coyotes, no need to change pan tension ounce set. I bend mine 5-7 degrees but mine are 4 coils, may be less with 2 coils. My 450's are set at 1.5, and still catch coyotes. This pan tension thing is way overthought. The less tension the bigger the kill zone! Think on that a bit.. Only takes one toe on the button..

Great post ebsurver, well done

Why did you not select the variable pan tension option?
Mine all have a dial under the pan to set the tension. Simply dial the desired pan tension and set the trap. It couldn’t be easier.