Recently picked up some Sleepy Creek 1.5 CS, with double jaws. They came with a screw installed under the pan, that is apparently what they describe as a down pan stop. As near as I can tell, SC installed these at the factory. And here is why.......

http://www.scmtraps.com/tips.html



Try as I might, I am unable to adjust the dog to where pan is level just before trap fires. As it arrived new, pan hits this screw and stops before trap fires. From level position, distance from tip of pan to top of screw is amount of travel before trap fires. When it stops, it's hanging by a thread on the very edge.

This is the only trap I've seen setup this way. Trying to decide if this screw is something I want to keep or take it off and chuck it?

You can run a file or Dremel tool on top of the pan stop to allow the trap to fire

Just remove It

Say on that link that it is to stop "toe chewing"

I admit I am fairly new to trapping but all the critters I ever saw skinned out to sell the feet were left on the carcass

I say take it off

Can u shorten the dog so it fires a little bit sooner

thats what i done with my few Sleepy Creeks that i have

Could shorten the dog......or file down the stop pan screw to shorten it to give pan a bit more travel room. But overall, BMP or not, looks to me like a solution in desperate search of a problem.....but thought I'd ask. Guys on here would know if anybody does.

They make it sound kinda sweet......but I suspect anything tuned that fine would last about 1 catch before all bets were off. I'm thinking chuck it.

It can be a problem on non drowning sets with chewing. Again, simply shortening the bolt or adjusting the pan so it fires before it reaches level are easy and acceptable solutions. Level pan isn't a requirement for water trapping and there are some benefits to having a slightly raised pan.

Can the nut be loosened and bolt threaded down a bit. Seems like they would build some adjustment in that stop

If the hole in the base had been tapped and threaded, screw could be backed out to fine tune it, but wasn't.

May take one trap, file down the screw and file a night latch on the dog as SC said to do it and see how it goes. If I don't like that, try another and file the dog down a bit. Neither one of those is going to harm the trap.

Still not sure how the pan stop....beyond double jaws.....is supposed to help with chewing....unless foot is not as deep in trap when it fires.

That is what it does. It prevents the foot from falling to base when the trap fires.

I agree.

Looks like there is enough room to put a nut on the bottom side by the head of the screw and that would lower it the width of the nut, give plenty of room for the pan to fire. Unless you were trying to trap for the live market or taxidermy I wouldn't bother with them though.

Do this to the dog. Closing that loop allows the dog to move up and down but not back and forth. That back and forth movement is why you are having problems.

Adjust the level of the pan by bending the post (the part of the frame the dog is attached to) forward or back. A crescent wrench works real good for that

Do this to the notch with a file so when the pan moves the trap fires

Squeezing the dog would actually exaggerate the OPs problem without cutting the trigger or dog down.

BEND THE DOG POST AWAY FROM THE PAN

( see the first post)

Get rid of the pan stop end of problem. Then do what DC has shown you to level the pan.
I have trapped for 70 some years and sure you get some deep catches so what. And the trap has chew guards so don't sweat It.

Do what Danny shows you.
Leave the screw or take it out, won't matter if the pan notch is short enough.

Fiddled with one trap yesterday for about 10 minutes......and finally got it to behave close to what was suggested by the SC info. Pan setting just below level and hanging by a thread, yet enough gap left over pan trap would fire. Got it to that condition by bending frame out to move dog tip back, and put a flat washer under the screw head below the frame to shorten effective length of the pan stop screw.

Have concluded the effort required to get this behavior isn't worth the benefit. The difference between top of pan with screw and top of pan without is less than 1/4". Doubt a caught coon would notice. Pan stop screws gotta go

If there is a market for such a trap......guess it's good that SC set them up that way, but if given a choice of that or shipping them already night latched, I'd prefer the latter. BTW, SC site also includes their instructions for night latching a trap......they suggested 1/64" notch on the dog? That level of finesse is beyond my ability even if I wanted to.

doing what I posted, filing the notch almost off, squeezing the loop closed, bending the post, takes at most 2 minutes a trap. newhouse put pan "breakers" on some of their trap pans. I n ever understood that either

Due to lack of experience tuning traps, been a bit reluctant to start waving around files out of concern I might inadvertently trash a perfectly good trap. Quite possible one can do more harm than good. Need to get past that. How else is a guy going to learn? Good place to start might be some tuning some old traps......trash one of those and you haven't lost much.

You wont trash one filing the notch down. Worst case you turn the file flat and cut a new notch with the side of the file

So here is my first attempt......enough meat left to set easy, yet fires pretty quick.....if I could get the pan stop tension set right. It needs a washer to fill in gap beside between pan pivot and pivot posts. # 6 washers I have are all too thick. Might get creative finding something else.....



Then on the other trap, before filing down the notch on that, I tried another trick that seemed to work. Variation on the pan stop......a temporary pan stop. In this case.....a 9/16" bolt. Set trap......then place bolt between pan and frame and push pan down till it stops. Then remove spacer bolt. Trap is now set on edge of firing. Easy to do and highly repeatable.




Then tried it with a 1/2" bolt.......held, but that was a hair trigger. Breath on that and it fired. If I was going to put that into practice, would probably try something lighter.....like 1/2" dowel rod, pvc pipe, etc. Fine tune it with a wrap or two of tape? But filing down the pan notch, while a bit more prep work, does not need any special tools and is repeatable too.

Dont forget to bend that loop closed. Else the dog can, and will, move forward as the pan drops. To get a nice clean firing consistent trap that loop needs pinched so the dog can only move up and down. Put the pliers on it like in the picture. then squeeze it together. Afterwards you may need to move the dog up and down a bit to loosen it up just a bit. Pretty much when you feel it move your done. Dont keep squeezing. If you need too you can open it back up with a screw driver. The trick is when you feel it pinch quit squeezing

Dogs and pans are easy to replace. Montgomery style dogless traps are where you can run into some traps that sit in the garage all season if you get happy with the file.

Good job

Take that stop out all together. Adjust the pan throw as Danny shows.
And if its on a drowner, chewing is never an issue they are too focused on on getting air.
Your trap has double jaws and that eliminates space under the jaws anyway so will work well on land sets for sure.
I never understood a down pan stop. If I walked up on my set with this trap and trap was still set because it couldn't fire with that dumb bolt under it...and the set showed evidence of being worked and danced all over but coon or fox literally could not be caught due to faulty piece of equipment I would have hurled that trap quite a ways out into the lake knowing my patience level for such stuff.

I don't see anything wrong with removing the stop but if you use it,it does not need to be adjusted that closely.I would back it out,level the pan in the traditional way by bending the dog part of the cross.Then cut or adjust the stop so there is 1/16" gap,after the pan clears the end of the dog.This will eliminate any potential issue and 1/16" extra foot drop will mean nothing on a cook's foot.Pretty nice looking trap,either way.

Epilogue: Took the pan stops off, then got the itch to test the trap. These are the Sleepy Creek double jaw 1 1/2 traps. Have 4 to 6 coon visiting the barn each night, so sought out some volunteers from that group and a couple obliged. Both were back foot catches, not deep and no damage to foot or leg.

So pan stops are off and gonna stay that way.

PS: There were a dozen of these for sale on the Trap Shed last week, with reference to the fact that SC didn't make them to sell, but for the BPM bunch to test. Be that as it may, I got mine from Minn Trap and they were described on the SC website. They are a nice trap.

Will be curious to see if the new ownership continues making them.

Dont think back foot catches are really a test of a traps damage prevention.

I have never witnessed any chewing on a back foot catch. I know I shouldn't say never but In all the years of trapping coon I haven't witnessed It.