I will be mainly using duke 550s for cat trapping this year. Do you need to decrease the pan tension on them at all? Or are they good out of the box?

Why that big trap? Most traps need a little tuning out of the box. Eric

It's just what I have

Test them. It's the only way to know. Raise the loose jaw and set a 2# hammer on the pan, it should just barely hold up the hammer without tripping.

It judging just curious. Like ADC said or get a pan tension tool. Eric

A 5.5 inch jawspread is a big trap?

That's what I was wondering.... a 550s inside jaw spread is really close to most 1 1/2s.

550 inside jaw spread 4 3/4 inch
Outside jaw spread 5 1/2

Also, how do you adjust how level the pan is? My pans are sticking up quite a bit.

Bend the post holding the dog slightly towards the center of the trap.

I file a slight bevel on the pan where the dog engages on my 650s to reduce pan tension. Spotted skunks can dance a jig on them out of the box without getting caught. The civets are always a nice addition while trapping cats!

Alright so I tried bending the post holding the dog slightly towards the center of the trap on one of them and it did help with how level the pan is but I'm still getting a lot of movement on the pan before it fires. The other ones I have that still have the pans not level do this as well. Are the pans supposed to move before firing? If not, how do I fix this?

You could file a little (very little) off the end of the dog making the little notch shorter. Some guys like the movement before the trap fires, others don't.

.. are you engaging the night latch?

Yes, the pans are moving after engaging the night latch

… you may need to crimp your dog eyes down… probably where the slack is coming from

The GENIUS has spoken!

I thought by night latching traps your pulling all the slack out the dog eyes when u pull it down on the night latch. Not that it's a bad idea to take the slack out of the eye. Just got to look were the extra travel is when u push the pan down slowly. It's either at the pan end of the dog or eye end of the dog.

I just adjusted some of these. The dog eye had a lot of play in them. Crimp em down with a vise. File any burrs on underside of pan and dress up the night latch. Mine were tripping around 3 1/2-4 lb. Got them around 2.5 lbs now.

Crimp down the dog eyes on a vise? And what do you do to the night latch? Did you have to bend the dog to adjust the pan tension?