3rd Row Center Seatbelt install (lots of pix)

[98 SNAKE EATER]

As many of you know, the 8 seater 80 series became a 7 seater in '95 when Toyota yanked the 3rd row center seatbelt

With my '91 FJ80, all eight seatbelts were put to good use (I have a big family), so when I got my '97 FZJ80, I knew I'd have to add the missing 8th belt


Now before we get started, this is highly ILLEGAL and will be done for exhibition purposes only




If you don't know how to remove the rear seats, refer to the seat removal decal on the driver's side rear panel.

I started with the passenger side seat..

Locate the 3 Philips head screws on the plastic seatmount cover and remove...

Lift cover to reveal the 14mm bolt that holds the buckle in place and loosen the bolt.

Open up the parts bag containing the new belt you ordered from CDan (who else lol)

Thread the belt through the top making sure it's in the same position as the 2nd row center seatbelt and bolt it in place...

Replace the plastic cover and retighten the 3 Philips head screws.

The other side is basically done in the same fashion.

 

[98 SNAKE EATER]

Replace both seats and strap your favorite stuffed animal or blow-up doll in place for a test fit (remember, human use is ILLEGAL lol)

 

[ERG80]

haha! Great write up and pics. Thanks

 

[instigator]

(remember, human use is ILLEGAL lol)

why is it illegal?

 

[arbetrader]

I know you're covering your a$$, but I'm not entirely sure this is illegal, at least in canada...

A buddy of mine did it in us suburban, never had a problem.

 

[98 SNAKE EATER]

I know you're covering your a$$, but I'm not entirely sure this is illegal, at least in canada...

A buddy of mine did it in us suburban, never had a problem.

I know, I think it's dumb that it was pulled in the first place, but it could probably pose a problem if you were involved in a serious accident where the 3rd row center passenger was injured :whoops:


You could very well be held liable

 

[instigator]

i guess the same could be said about after market lift springs, bigger tires, arb bumper. etc... but since the belts originated from a older 80 series......

 

[wearsabrowncoat]

Nice write up, should be added to the FAQ. It would have saved me lots of time if I followed your directions. I did not notice the directions for removing the seats until I was bolting them back in.

For those who don't have parts yet, a cheaper option might be visitng your local junk yard as I got the whole assembly for $12. I used the middle belt out of a second row seat. I was told the belt is exactly the same and it bolted right in. Of course don't compromise safety to save a few bucks, the belts I found were like new and an exact color match. By the way, I ended up using longer 14mm bolts as the original bolts seemed too short after the extra belts were added. They might have been fine but the bolt did not thread all the way to the end of the captive nut. The bolts that came with the junk yard unit were too long but ended up being just about right after cutting 3/4 inch off.

 

[all7belts]

Some updated info from my install. Thank you for the great instructions. I have 5 kids so I used all 7 belts (hence my forum name) but found I often wanted an 8th belt. C'Dan confirmed Toyota has discontinued that belt but I found a simple lap belt on line for $20 bucks. (I used seatbeltsplus.com but there were others). With instructions above it went in just fine.

I did one side with the seat out as described above - tried doing the other side with seat in. Wrestling with the seat during install was about same effort as taking it out and putting back in so take your pick. Have put 7 boy scouts in many times since installing.

 

[LCL FJ80]

Any idea why the pics are no longer available?

 

[98 SNAKE EATER]

Sorry, my old host took a dump

I'll repost later tonight if I can find them on file.

 

[98 SNAKE EATER]

Click HERE for more pix

 

[t00manyuserz]

Any chance this pics can come back? Need to do this exact retrofit.