Pan slop Is do to not having even pressure against the pan shank. With most taps out of the box when you tighten up the tension screw the posts are bent Inwards and only tighten up at the top edge of the pan shank. When you put a washer or 2 between the posts and the shank you get even pressure against the whole side of the pan shank. When doing this It eliminates that so called pan slop.

That's not the what I call pan slop. That may help the pan tipping side to side and help get more consistent pan tension though.

Slop is the room around the hole in the pan and the pan bolt as well as the holes in the sides of the frame the bolt goes through. Here's a couple exaggerated drawings from years ago as well to explain it...

You see where the bolt is before and after pulling the pan down into position, that is removing the slop from the pan. Pulling down the pan into position is what eliminates it. You can't do that with a short notch so you'll need to drill out the holes and replace them with a bolt that fits perfectly if you want the job done right.

The OP didn't say what kind of traps he's using, or the pan tension he likes.

Beav I didn't add to the subject because the OP doesn't like PIT PANS.
And they are the cats meow, if you ask me. Lol
But I know, you don't use them so they are worthless to The Beav
I stand by my first post

victor #3, I like around 2lbs of pan tension. On my mb550's it was a hassle to get to 2lbs.

Unless you have so much the target animal will not fire the trap or so little the dirt you cover it with sets it off, pan tension doesn’t matter much.

Where did I say I didn't use or care for PIT pans?? I have a ton of them on my rat traps. And my 550s and my 650s have them.

And wetdog what valuable information have you brought to this thread??

Now I understand why you don't like PITpans at 2# tension they probably self set or very close to it.
And on the traps I do nite latch, I latch the dog. Just seams easier to touch up the dog than the pan notch in the field on a muddy mess remake. If it's needed that is.

I personally dont night latch my traps. I squeeze the dog loop so there is less movement and the adjust my trap so the pan sits level. I set the trap and drop the pan to the position I like to have them. I dont want to file on the pan because with my luck I would eventually need to buy new pans because I would screw something up.

When The beav recommended that I file the dog notch, thats the first thing that came to mind. I'm going to try it out on a couple of these and see how I like it.

Where did you find Pit Pans for a Duke 1.5 with weakened springs?

So with this in mind, I went on a quest to find washers like this that would work. The problem being the thickness of most flat washers is far wider than the gap left between the pan shank and pan post, which on the traps I have that needed it, I measured to be .025". Most flat washers are .04 to .05"....twice too thick. This was the best I could find.....

https://www.mcmaster.com/92916A335/

These were for #8 screws. Problem being as shipped, ID will not slip over the screws.....but will if you drill them out to 3/16". Larger #10 washers have bigger ID, but thickness gets up there. But once installed, it does smooth out the pan tension......almost enough without fiddling with the screw much. At least when new and installed on the bench. But give it a season in the ground and ?????? Got to wondering if this is a bit like trying to pick fly crap out of the pepper?

Also occurred to me that part of the misfit might be due to some of these being made in Asia with metric screws and some in US with SAE. Off just enough to mess things up.

Hayday I found thin brass washers at Ace Hardware that works perfect.

In that case, Ace will be my next stop, since one group of traps I'm fiddling with also came with steel screws, and those have already started to rust. Can get the brass screws, nuts and washers all in the same place.

Hey 316.

I had them made by a friend The only thing I don't have is the dog with the bump on It. And that dude from Wild River pans makes a type of a pit pan. At least there Isn't a dog notch so I consider those to be a type of a PIT pan.

Check out Minnesota trapline prod. website, click on hardware then modifications. They have the #10 brass bolts, nuts, and washers you need at very reasonable prices. Also they sell the correct drill bit for the bolts of you don't have one of your own.

I got bulk,thin brass washers on Ebay.All small hardware is more expensive at hardware stores.The trapping suppliers have way better prices.It is a good idea to replace pan screws on Dukes.I also file any burrs off the pan shank and the inside,bearing surfaces of the pan post.This will make things pivot much more smoothly and helps give a more repeatable pan tension.

If you choose to do what turtleDale said and just break out the file, then angle the dog end, so when it clears pan post, it does not drag.
We adjust pan tension with the screw and engage the dog bout 1/32" in pan post.

And here is the brass washer and bolt set up to eliminate side play.

I do it the same Yukon John. Probably no right or wrong but it's what I'm used to. Doesn't take me long at all.