1985 hj47 seatbelt questions (1 Viewer)

[876 Cruisers]

I recently purchased a 85' hj47 and the seatbelts in it seem to be of no good right now. These seat belts seem to not be a retractable one and I'm not sure if this was the original belts or not.

If anyone has a picture of what the seat belts should look like or if the retractable 40 series ones can work and where they bolt to. Would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Dan

 

[cbmontgo]

Dan,

I snapped a few pics of mine for you. It is a stock 1983 HJ47 troopy and my seat belts are retractable (except the middle one of course). Hopefully this helps.

 

[876 Cruisers]

Thanks a million for the reply. I have the same bolt spot as your last picture. I'll post some pics when I can to see if you can recognize anything that can help

Dan

 

[876 Cruisers]

Here some pictures of how its mounted.

 

[cbmontgo]

That seat belt webbing looks factory, but I’m not sure about the pillar mount. You’ve got a different configuration than mine because of the pickup bed.

 

[876 Cruisers]

Correct. But I'm thinking maybe I could configure it to work with a retractable belt like yours. May just have to bore a hole and add a nut

 

[Bear]

Jamaica Dan,

Some things to think about:

The original 2-point lap mount seat belt configuration is well anchored for the time period it was built. There are heavy backing plates BEHIND the exposed mounting nuts. Your B-pillar mounts are not standard and appear to be held by four light bolts/screws that would easily be ripped off during a collision. The raised upper mounts you see on others' trucks are factory-created and have a heavy reinforced nut plate behind them.

The better option are the Canadian mounts over the curved windows in the pickup 45s--heavy stamped brackets with two reinforced mounting bolts. The factory mounts with the heavy threaded backing plates were created before the sheetmetal halves were spot-welded together, and recreating these requires opening up that sheetmetal to install something similar, and then reclosing it all up.

Even still, the results are 1980s technology 40 years later--better than nothing, but nothing like today's protections. A lot of work is involved in trying to properly modify an earlier vehicle to better protect its occupants, and that needs to be balanced with the time, effort, and money involved for the amount of extra protection it provides.

For most people, probably lap belts and head rests are a settled-upon compromise along with all the other compromises we endure when driving "antique" vehicles.

 

[876 Cruisers]

Thanks for reply. Something to consider when working on it