Bought a dozen pairs of bridger no 2 levers from Montgomery fur. Going to try changing out levers on some Montgomery no 2 dogless that I have. Its my understanding the best way (because of the possibilty of mont jaws breaking while removing) is to cut the baseplate in two, for jaw removal. Exchange levers, and weld on baseplate to repair cut. Has anyone performed this modification, if so what else did you do to fine tune mod. Thanks in advance

i just did a half dozen of the old monty #2 dog ons. i didnt have a problem removing the jaws. i also used the bridger #2 levers. Are these the square jaw traps. if so i bet they will be the cats meow once you getem done. good luck. Terry Montgomery walked me through the process.

Cletis the easy way to do it is heat the jaw tips up and you can remove the jaws with no problem. Then once back in heat them and bend up.

I have changed levers exactly as you talk of doing; cutting existing trap base, replacing levers, and welding on baseplate with D-ring. Just make sure you leave the gap (made by the saw) in the original base when welding on the d-ring baseplate, so that you don't pinch the jaws so much that they don't move freely. I have cracked and even broken the old Montgomery jaws when bending tips to try and remove them from the trap. That is why I cut the trap's base now. I cut the base between the spring pin and the end of the trap, so the width of the spring pin anchor is not affected.

If you want offset jaws, you can reverse the jaws (jaws back to back). Try this before welding back together. If you don't like the amount of gap, weld back with jaws in normal position.

I like attaching baseplate with D-ring anyway to beef up the trap, so I think this is the best way to replace jaws, since they are not making any jaw replacements anymore.

I dont mean to sound ignorant but why would you want to change to a high lever? Is it just to make it easier to set these traps? If so, sleepy creek has setters for coilsprings that work very good.

The reason is it alows the levers to come up higher which gives alot more holding power. Nothing to do on making them eaiser to set.

sorry, I'm brain dead in the morning. I was thinking the length of the lever outside the jaws instead of the inside clearance.

That's why this is the place to learn.

Any grinding on the jaw necessary or will the bridger lever come up high enough without it. Campbell these are sguare jaws I had forever.

No grinding needed.

I was looking at the mod that Blak coyote made on the levers of another style trap. It made me wonder about modifying the exiting low levers instead of purchasing new ones. Lengthening the thoat and adding extensions. Any Ideas.

I put #3 bridger levers on #3 and #4 low lever dogless montys. I did this by cutting frames and then base plating to repair. Cut frame between spring pin and end of frame as previously stated. Tried heating jaws tips to bend but experienced cracking. I offset these with lugs, tried reversing jaws but was not happy with the end result. These traps lock up tight with this setup. My only complaint is that when 4 coiled the loose jaw can ride high due to a larger pin hole in the bridger levers. This can be corrected, just takes a little time. Brian

Cletis you can grind the jaws on the outside a little and get high levers out of them with out ever taking them apart.

Thanks for all the imput guys, see you can teach an old dog new tricks and now if I could pull a Huckle Berry Finn (whitewashing the fence )and trick someone into changing them I would have it made. Thanks again Cletis.

Well my new cat traps and no 2 bridger levers came in today. One thing I can positively say is on Montgomery no 2 dogless , you have too grind the jaws to a new profile to allow the levers to raise to the level needed. Now we know and thanks for all the help. Cletis.

the monties i have are the dog on style with round jaws are they an older or newer version of the montgomery trap.

dcampbell Yes, there the square jaw dogless. Old style almost as old as me.

Cletis I tried to tell you to grind the jaws a little as it would have saved you money and time spent changing levers for the same effect.

I know Huntinglonewolf, I only bought levers for 12 traps and have 29 of them so all's not lost LOL, gives me something to play with and the traps do not owe me a thing with all they have caught, but we still have to improve the improved. Or try to.

I got to add this...IF you heat the jaw tips to remove the jaws ....WATCH yourself IF you dry fire those traps. Excessive heat can crystalize the jaw tips and they will break on you.

I think its a beater method to cut base and remove jaws that way...my 2 cents.