chain length doesnt matter much on coon as long as you keep em off the bank. On beaver is more important if youre in marginal water depth. You can shorten the chain with a clip instead of physically shortening the chain.

Dale Billingsley did a video on it. An inexpensive way to mod a #1 trap to be almost as good as a #11. Some #1's already have the small hole for the J-hook, but you won't find any of that small size j-hook new. Best plan is to use/move the one already on the trap on the spring end.....or weld a larger one to the trap.

I always just moved the whole clevis assembly over to that side instead of messing with the hole.

I prefer that mod for setting pockets and climb outs as spring is away from animals approach, though most of my traps are now single spring 1.5s. Like chain spring side for in winter feeders and small houses the limited amount I trap them now.

back in the 70s, marlon farmer from alabama published a book on road trapping mink and coon. he used all #1 longs, moved the chain away from the spring, and added a helper spring. on coons, and w/o this chain mod, youll end up with traps with a gap between the jaws opposite of the spring. i used to run several hundred #1s with this chain mod.