OR: Post on the shed for some weak spring take off's, should be pretty cheap.

Yes, there should be some folks who have some “helper” springs laying around that they’ve replaced with stronger music wires! I’d think doing a little searching would be wiser than dickin around ruining stock springs! Because of this thread I removed the main springs on a Duke #2 but left the helpers on. Easier to set of course and certainly strong enough to easily hold a mink or rat!

Just put mink pans on them, the flat part of the pan engaging the entire width of the dog will cut the pan tension in half.

l dont know why anyone has not suggested using the right trap for mushrats for crying out loud. Maybe its just more trouble than its worth

Yup!! The Wild River Pans make a big difference. No need to weaken the springs.

Such as?

When I started float trapping seriously I wanted to mimic the 1 1/2 sized triumph single grip. Took a 1 1/2 duke removed one spring and lever. They were bought new. Just couldn't envision setting 75-100 (or more) of those every day for a couple weeks. Still have the levers and spring in a bucket in case I want to sell them. Work very well .

I second Killbuck. Takes less than 5 mn a trap and you haven’t damaged springs. Also one spring can be positioned away from path of travel like an underspring.

Do what trips your trigger. But I know what worked for me. And all those heat-treated 1 1/2 Duke coil springs caught me 1000s of rats. And I caught a few coon in them too.
And those large trap pans do not solve the problem for those overpowered traps.

ADJUSTED PROPERLY, the Wild River pans installed on brand new Duke traps work just fine and you don't have to weaken the springs unless of course you want to. I catch several hundred mink, rats, and coons, as well as some otters and a few beaver in them every year. I've got some Duke 1 1/2 coils that are 15 years or so old all the way down to brand new shiny ones and I have never heated the springs on them.

Different options achieve similar results.

It's not how many you catch it's how many you miss.

I agree.

And we will have to agree to disagree whether it is necessary to heat the springs. With how I adjust and set my traps up it isn't necessary for me to do that to achieve a light enough pan tension.

No doubt the flopper pans make the trap plenty enough sensitive. The issue is the ease of setting if handling several hundred a Day.

I would think you'd be just as well off to take one spring off and not mess with the heating part

I'd just buy some no.1 long springs before I started taking off springs and heating them up.

Trade your strong Duke 1.75’s for older weaker Victor pinch pan 1.5’s.
PM if you want to trade a dozen

I weaken some springs by heating them on some Duke 1.5's when my kid was young because they were easier for him to set in deeper water for trapping rats. I later just changed them out for 1 1/2 music wire then he got stronger and wanted them for other uses. No big deal.

This post is about heating coil springs to weaken' them so sorry if this is off on a sidetrack........Many years ago Charlie Dobbins told me the #1 Triumph LS was the best LS trap for rats and mink because the spring bend allowed for twisting the spring to either side and the jaws (and entire trap) laid flat, same for the Triumph 1.5 LS. On a float, that is a plus and have used them occasionally through the years. Don't like them for anywhere a coon catch is also possible but for rats in a pond/cattail marsh etc. they are good. Talked with Rich Kasper once about LS in the marsh vs.CS and as Charlie told me 'You only need 1 hand to depress a LS as opposed to 2 for a coil". Hand fatigue (thumbs) will get guys (it got me) with both thumbs working 100's of traps but you can switch out the thumb/hand/heal ache when setting LS's all day TO YOUR OTHER HAND. Don't tell me you can't unless you only have 1 hand, just learn how to use both. Like dribbling a Basketball. I am not a fan of using a weakened 1.75 coil for rats. If you want that big of a trap for rats, save the 1.75's and get some old used #2 V SJ coils. They are lighter in weight, pan falls with ease, jaw spread is greater, springs can be over coiled in a vise to weaken them if you want, can be used as a killer trap when set correctly to catch both front feet or head of a rat and cheaper to buy. Cheaper always attracts me LOL. So if using floats or in/on a rat house there are other alternatives than the torch. .Been my Experience. ..................the (handache) mike

So, If the Op has traps and can weaken them why go out and buy more traps.
Have any of you that oppose spring weaking ever used a trap that has its springs weakened? Have any of you caught over 3,000 rats in a season?
I can tell you it makes a difference. Before I wreaked the springs on my 1 1/2 dukes, I watched rat sit right on top of my stock traps. Sure, I short notched then loosened the pan bolt even bent the dog end down. It helped but I was still missing lots of rats.
ND is a rat trappers paradise you can sand on the ditch banks and watch rats working your sets you can see what is happening and see how rat works a set. I'll tell you a little story. There was this road going through this mash. We only had permission to trap one side. The road was probably 1/4 mile long and it was washed out at the far end. WE set 60 some traps and it's hard to believe but by the time we started back we had caught 42 rats. I actually watched 2 rats get caught and When I removed one rat from a trap and re set It, I stood right by that trap and watched a rat swim up to that trap and get caught right in front of me. And that was early morning we came back 5 hours later and had 10 more rats. It was pretty common to check twice a day. This was in the spring of the year.

I learned a lot about what works and what doesn't when it comes to trap adjustment.

Weaken a few and see what happens. You have to remember that once the spring levers are locked up on the jaw edges the springs have done their job. We caught quite a few coon in those traps and can't say we didn't lose a few, but we did catch and hold some. But then again, we weren't making coon sets. All these sets were adjustable baited and lured stool sets, set along the ditch banks. It didn't work in Wisconsin.