Hi everyone,

Longtime hunter, new trapper from upstate NY here. Been reading a lot on this site and was able to join. I have 6 of these traps. They are 4 coil laminated and I did not wax them as there is only a few weeks of the season left and they're already dyed. I'm having issues setting the nite latch. The very first trap I set in my garage latched just fine. Now I'm having issue with some and not with others, meaning I go to set the latch and the whole trap just goes off in my hand. I repeated this several times until finally for no reason they seem to click.

I also ordered a tension tester and despite loosening the bolt as I've seen online, the tension is still > than 4 pounds. Finally, one of my traps is setting at a downward angle and not flat. I've really struggled to find any instructions or directions for these traps and came here for help. I know there are other adjustments, but didn't want to mess with anything without knowing what to do.

PS caught my first yote 3rd day in but since then it's been either 2' of snow and single digit freezing or now it's wet and muddy so most of my sets are struggling lol.

thanks in advance for having me and the advice.

might check the where the pan attaches to the trap to be sure theres no slop/binding.

You can adjust the pan height by loosing the 2 nuts on the bottom of the pan assembly and move either in or out by tapping on it and retighten once you get it level. I waxed over 6 dozen of them after I had set the pan tension and then had to go back and remove the wax. If I had to do over, I would have just boiled and not waxed. They are great traps.

Good luck

Belo, I replied to your post on nyw and w. So you can keep it your journal.
Tony

Id be curious how you are setting your latch. I had this same issue until I seen Kendall do it and ask him about it, now I have no issues at all setting them even in a hurry.

I learned the hard way to put either my thumb or finger under the pan when setting.

On the trap where the pan doesn’t sit level, under the pan there is a carriage bolt that goes down through the cross frame with a nut on the bottom. Loosen the nut up and you can slide the pan back and forth . Slide it towards the loose jaw to raise the pan or towards the lockdown jaw to lower it.

On the pan tension, take a flat blade screw driver and scrape the pan notch and the shelf of the jaw where the pan catches. The coating has a rough texture to it and by scraping those two points of contact smoothing them both off will lower pan tension.

Most people like to set there pan up past the nightlatch and then lower it down so they can hear the click. On those traps I just set it in the nightlatch to begin with.

Set that trap above the nite latch notch. Then put your index finger under the pan and your thumb above the pan and sort of pinch the pan and gently lower the pan until you hear the click. If someone else had those traps they may have waxed them. If so, you will never get it to nite latch until you remove the wax from the notch and the pan. Also another thing to check is make sure that the nite latch notch is not filled with powder coat. If it is, scrub it with a small wire brush. Those are some fine traps.

Rickey

Yep, this is correct. I thought there was two, but there is only one. That is what I get for going by memory.

I guess maybe that's part of my issue? I just sort of squeeze with my palm, this seemed to work better than my thumb. I'm not sure if the smoothness of setting matters? Most of the youtube videos don't show the process very well, best I found was the shetraps youtube.

Thank you this was helpful. I didn't think to even just set it at the nitelatch from the start. I also found that taking a flathead or my knifeblade in the field seemed to help with the click a little more.

Am I mistaken that tightening or untightening the bolt and nut of the pan latch (I think that's what its called, where the pan pivots on the trap) is not the correct way to adjust pan tension?

They are brand new, but that's good to know about waxing as i planned to do that before next season. Should I just not even bother waxing, or should I just try and protect this part from wax? I appreciate the method you described and I'll try that going forward. It's flooding right now so my whole line is a bit of a mess haha.

This guy basically explains my tension problem and kind of shares my frustration for the price of these traps
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8Jv-S7LfnE

If they aren't adjusted right they also won't go off when you step on the pan

I'm going to add some bowstring wax as that's something I can easily do in the field. If that doesn't work I might take a file as several youtubers recommended. This video was helpful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYvWEHMby2U

This right here is the best way and the way Kendall explained to me when I was having issues

Take trap out of box.

Loosen pan bolt to where pan sticks slightly, just a tick tighter than a floppy pan.

Take a file and knock the powder coat off of the pan.

Rub bowstring wax on contact points (pan and square setting point on the jaw).

Set and fire the trap a couple times to get the wax evenly coated. As others have said you pinch the pan and pull down while applying upward pressure with your lower finger to set the nightlatch, don't just push down. You will probably be in the 2 pound neighborhood now. May have to tighten the pan bolt slightly more to get around 3 pounds. All of this takes less than 5 minutes per trap and they are very consistent throughout a season. Out of all the traps I own, the jr's require the least time of adjustment of any of them.

If you are really having trouble after this, you can reconfigure the springs to where its only a 2 coil trap and put the 2 remaining coils on the loose jaw side of the trap. You can get them to a downright hair trigger doing that

My No BS K9 Jrs I don’t die or wax. I do rub a little bow string wax on the contact points and then put them in the ground.

WIKA I do the same and have had no problems.

Took my bowstring to the field yesterday. I think it helped some, but it's clear to me that I'll need to bring a file as well. Didn't have any visitors last night to any of my 4 active sets so I'll give it the weekend.

Also thank you all who gave the recommendation of pinching the pan with your finger below. This method worked flawlessly with each trap. As a newcomer to this sport I really do think these trap companies should include a simple piece of paper with some of these instructions. For example:

To adjust tension loosen or tighten this bolt
To adjust angle do this
to set nite latch use this technique
how to remove springs and why you would do this

Like it's just a single piece of paper, or at least some of these on your website. I apologize if they're there, but when I went to their site I didn't find them. Just my .02. Now that I'm learning these things it is very simple and straight forward, but as a newbie they were not and probably could have had a few more catches if better prepared. oh well.