I had a little time this afternoon and decided I wanted to attempt a change over to a dogless pan on a #3 double long spring. I already had a dozen Bridger #2 dogless pans I bought with this project in mind.

I referred to some of the posts I’ve seen here on this conversion. It turned out to be really simple.

I cut a piece of 1/8” black pipe 1 1/8” long to fit in the ears of the Bridger pan. After removing the original pan I drilled out the ear holes to 1/4” and used a 1/4x1 1/2” bolt to hold the assembly together and clamped it in place on the cross frame after adjusting how I wanted it to sit.





I welded it with my wire feed. No need to critique my welds. I know I suck.



The pan sits about right.



The trap fully modified with base lamination and jaw laminations.



And I may cut the pan down. Haven’t decided yet. Stock it would make a pretty good cat trap but for coyotes I think the pan is a bit big. The blue lines are where I would cut it down.

Looks pretty dang good to me.

Way easier than any of the other adjustable pan modifications.

Those look sharp! I have been wanting to do this to some #2 DBL I have just not sure what pans to order. I really like how yours turned out

Keep going, you are on a roll!!

The #2 dogless pans would have to be cut down to work with a #2 DLS but I believe it would work.

NICE work Marty!

Looking good, you're set up is gonna be better than the one's I'm working on.
I'm just use old monty's dog less pan and ends with electric plates for big pan.
I got about 2 dozen #3's and 15 #4 double longs i plan to do.

Thank's for sharing

I need to buy a bunch of pans. I have 10 dozen #3 DLS and 5 dozen #4 DLS. I’d like to do them all. May have to sell some blood or plasma. Maybe a kidney.

Oh wow, yes you do got a bunch.
I've never dipped traps in paint but think I'm gonna try it on mine.
Gonna tumble them in the cement mixer so they will be clean metal.

I dipped some body grips this year. I like it a lot. I may start doing all my traps. I had some left over rusty metal primer and some gloss black equipment paint from my trailer build. I combined the two and came up with a great mud brown color. It would probably make a great land trapping color.

I happened to watch a YouTube video last night where the guy used a hardener with his paint on his traps. He didn’t elaborate on how much hardener to use but I may have to research that a little.

Excellent, yeah I've been watching utube on how to mix.
Think I've 2 qts brown/ 2qts black and gallon of mineral spirits.


Put 4 together tonight. Still gotta weld everything.

Now that’s a kill area on that pan.

Marty, your trap mod's look good to me.

Just make sure the little piece of pipe is heavy walled. So, you can make a strong weld.

I believe your finished trap will be a fine exposed Bobcat Trap. Be careful not to cut the pan to short. Like I did once!

Mark,

It’s schedule 40 1/8” black pipe. Plenty of meat and can use a 1/4” bolt to secure the pan and adjust pan tension. I’m going to have to go to a 1 3/4” bolt. The 1 1/2” is too short to get a Nyloc nut on and have it be secure.

Marty I was looking at your pics. Did you bubble the inside of your jaw to off sent them? Also did you cut the frame where the dog clips on to get rid of the know longer upright part of the frame? Hope that makes sense.

Yes I bubbled the inside of the jaws to create an offset. And touched up the jaws where the springs come up to make sure they go fully up. And I clipped the dog arm off.

Beartooth Trapr,

You mentioned tumbling your traps in a cement mixer. I am putting a half dozen together to donate at the Idaho fur auction. Thought I’d dip them in my mud brown paint mixture. How long do you let them run? I assume till they’re shiny but how long is that? A couple hours? Or days?

Marty

Thanks Marty! I sure like your idea. Did a bunch with Ed’s Step- Down pans with the stainless rod dogs. On to the search for Bridger pans. Pan sure does look like it needs to be shorten. Little at a time, till you find that sweet spot! I’d almost start at the bottom of the 45*

I'd say 10-15 minutes, in 1/4 to1/2 rock

Beartooth do you take the chains off? How about the paddles in the mixer? How many traps at a time? Gotta try this it might be better then the vinegar soak and baking soda rinse.

Like pea gravel rather than sand. I was thinking sand blasting sand but never considered small rock. Thanks for the advice.

And yes no chains, I learned the hard way. What a mess.
I left paddles in the mixer, think I did about 8-10 traps.
Little bit of Dawn soap, and spray off when done.
If you need to clean chains, swivels wrap them with wire in group
Of 4 to 5.

Well you convinced me to try it. The boy ordered some traps from F&T so I added a couple pans to the order to see what I can come up with

I figured as much beartooth, I believe I’ve read that somewhere else with the chains! Thanks

I thought that very thing on the chains. I know how tangled they can get in a box on the four wheeler. I can just imagine how tangled and knotted they’d get in a mixer.

I did up a Victor #4 DLS with the #2 dog less pan. Add a base plate and a triangle D ring and four links of chain to move the swivel away from the base plate hump. This is a beaver /otter trap. I didn’t have law laminations for this one. I did add a plate to the cross arm to stiffen it. I did the same with the #3s. I’m not sure how much bigger a #3 pan is. I think this looks pretty good for beaver.

Looks real good Marty! I bought the longer base plates, like you did also to reach the whole length of the frame. Like the side support idea also! I’ve got crunch proofs off my D-ring, they sure are hard on the leg. LOL That pan looks perfect for a big ole beaver foot.

I know there are better beaver traps but those old #4s are one of my all time favorite traps. I started using them when they first opened a beaver season in New York in the 70s. They’ve caught a lot of beaver for me over the decades. Another favorite is the #4 jump. I may have to do a dog less conversion on one of those.

That reminds me, I have a 4 jump that needs attention! Get on it Marty. I still have some of the step-down pans to play with. Wonder how that underspring will affect those? My have to swap out a paws-I- trip pan.

I brought in a #4 jump and checked the #2 dog less pan on it. Way too small. I’ll have to get some #3 pans to check with the jumps.

I’m sure you’ll figure it out. Have fun playing!

.

#2 with a cut down Bridger pan. Still need to baseplate and maybe laminate the jaws. Wonder if it would work for otter in a blind set? Or at a fish stick stake in a drowner

That looks really good.

Thank you. Took a little bit I had to flatten the cross piece, might have to make a backer for it to strengthen it. My son bought these traps at an auction and the6 were rusted but still really strong springs. We are just trying to get them useable. I wish I would have ordered more pans. Oh well I always need to order some trapping related. And I appreciate the info and suggestion on the pans

I had two of the six I did that I had to flatten the hump. The crossbar had gotten tweaked at some point and the hump interfered with the pan dropping far enough to fire. I warmed them up with the torch and flattened them. I reinforced the crossbar on all of them.

I should of heated it up I just put it in a vise and flattened it. The pipe for the bolt to go through was right in the bend and I couldn't get it to set right. I need to cut off the extra on the crossbar and baseplate it. My son is excited to get one finished and catch something with it. I like working on the old traps and getting them useable