Broken ram springs
 

I have a dozen wolf masters and 8 have snapped since last spring until now.
Not heated, painted, dyed, waxed, rusted or damaged in any way

My second 12 are perfect and not one has broken

Any ideas what’s happening?
Talked to the guy who sold them to me new and he blames nfg Chinese steel.

I and a few 330 connibears break over the summer also

Did you guys ease your springs for storage or leave them set?

Mine were still armed. Was also told by the guy who sold them that it didn’t matter if they were armed or not. “They come armed” was his response to my question of storage

Mine were left set as well.

If springs are breaking they have been tempered to hard.
Cycling a spring will weaken it more than leaving it under tension.

It’s not supposed to matter if you ease your springs or leave them set but I’ve never heard of a spring breaking due to it being in a relaxed position. I’m in the easing the springs camp and I release the springs on all of my connibear traps prior to storing. Better to weaken (maybe?) than break imo.

Did some work with Alta Steel few years back. When they melt down car bodies and form steel billets found most of other metals migrated to core like center of log. Any high stress applications like truck springs the poor quality steel will usually fail. It was okay for rebar.
Suspect some poor quality steel coming from Asian trading partners on traps that are failing.

Well that seems to coincide with the explanation I was given. So likely just a matter of time before more fail.

Dave says he releases his springs, what do others do?

Dave, have you had failures if any springs in the past?

Two of mine failed while set in the bush and 6 in storage since the spring

I've had I think seven or eight that have failed in the last two years most were just laying on shop floor during off season two were out in the bush the one in the bush was right after I set it walked about ten ft an heard it break all my rams were purchased at dam beaver an Ian is a Awsome guy to deal with he replaced the broken ones an from he was saying sounded like there was a bad batch of em that were breaking wasn't sure if maybe different metal quality or what but I wasn't the only one having issues

I have used the power snares, of all sizes fro close to 20 years and have never had any fail..Maybe the older ones were "locally" made and better quality. Same can be said for any of my conibears of all sizes but none of them were the "cheapies" to begin with. Guess that's why I drive a Ford to the trapline and not a Dodge...haha...:grouphugg:

Sourdough, quit running down my Dodge Ram. Its 21 years old with 400K and still going strong like me and gets me to and back from line. My partners Dodge Ram is 30 years old! All Fords have long since been remelted into poor quality steel.

Too funny lmao

Did they all break just up from the coil roughly 3 to 4 inches up? Are they on the trigger arm or the lap link arm. Just curious. Thanks

Most of mine were by the coil had cpl that the arm broke on the lock side

All Mine broke right at the coil, some are on the lap link side and some on the other

There’s been a issue in the metal used with rams purchased in last few years. Wether it’s the heat treating of spring steel or in the steel itself. If you bought them from dam beaver they will replace them free of charge.

I bought mine from FHA. They literally screamed and yelled at me and said no warranty at all!! Ian from Dam beaver is replacing them free of charge. Ian is a king among men, a stellar person and business owner. FHA will get nothing from me again, ever. I’ve bought trapping supplies from most of the suppliers out there, but Dam Beaver has earned every dollar I spend from now on

I had around 10-12 in the last year that broke right at the bottom by the spring curl Ian from Dam Beaver looked after all them - Top notch place to buy all your Trapping stuff Thank You Ian

Been using them about 20 years. Definitely the first ones were best there have certainly been issues over the years with some bad batches but I’ve only ever had one break apparently for no reason. (About 4-6” up from the bottom coil). I’ve had more issues with poor unfinished welds on the trigger notch sides and the notches being on the wrong side
Dam beaver Ian is top notch for sure

Broken ram springs
 

I have had 3 break on me in one day one was when I was putting it together scared the **** outta me lol I ian from dam beaver replaced them all I must agree Ian is a great fella and I buy all my stuff from him and will for the years to come