Child seat tether anchor ideas

[marcfj60]

Has anyone come up with a simple solution for securing the top tethers for car seats in a 60-series? I've searched the forums but have only found info on what the 80-series owners do. I've got a few ideas and am considering even designing a kit that I could sell to the few 60 owners who haven't come up with a good solution yet. It would consist of an anchor bracket with flat webbing looped through and sewn into a loop that would mount to the same wall that the seat belt receptacles bolt to. There would be a backing plate to bolt into on the back of the panel underneath the truck. Then the flat webbing loop would just poke up through the carpet on the floor directly behind the bottom of the seatback. The 80-series owners can use the 3rd-row seat latch bars. https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=47989
We don't have latch bars or cargo hooks in the rear cargo area. I'm also considering mounting two or three L-track tiedown tracks to the floor http://www.sure-lok.com/trackfloor.aspx and then I can buy clips with rings that will provide a point to clip the tether clips to. This will also serve as a great load tiedown system.

 

[ColoradoLC]

I am interested! I just had my second kid and the 60 is the kid transport. We also use it for drive-in excursions, so we lay our seats down and lay on them a lot. Because of that, it would be nice to have the hooks recessed if possible, even if it means cutting into the back of the seats.

Even if that can't be done, I would probably still be interested, so let me know what you come up with.

 

[bunja]

I would be interested too. Have little ones and road trips are better in my 60 series than the suburu

 

[bunja]

shoulder straps

BTW,
is there a place where I can get shoulder strap seat belts for the back? I have an 85 bj60 and it only has seat straps. I think that my son should have one.......

 

[ColoradoLC]

Yeah you can get those from www.cruiserparts.net. You have to do some cutting I believe.

"Complete rear seat shoulder harness set up with all covers and trim pieces.
It will take roughly 3-4 hours to install and does require some drilling and cutting. "

It is $250 and I am not sure if this is per belt of for the whole back seat. Seems like a good idea to me!

 

[marcfj60]

BTW,
is there a place where I can get shoulder strap seat belts for the back? I have an 85 bj60 and it only has seat straps. I think that my son should have one.......

There is a kit you can buy from Specter that duplicates a retrofit Toyota used to have. You replace the lap retractor with a different one that has a lug added to the latch plate. Then you bolt a manually adjusted shoulder strap to the C-pillar. The shoulder strap locks into the lug on the new retractor. I think there is always a hidden hole on the upper c-pillar where you bolt the shoulder strap in but not all vehicles have a nut welded to the back of it. There is a thread here that goes into great detail about this issue. I'm too lazy and don't have time right now to search for it but I know I've seen it here.

Found it:
https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=26275&highlight=shoulder+belt

Another solution some have tried is to modify the lower C-pillar and bolt in a retractor from a later FJ-62 that functions like a traditional 3-point seat belt.

My child restraint solution until my oldest (5 years and about 40 lbs) gets over 80 lbs is to use the Britax Regent 5-point car seat. But, it needs a tether anchor for a child over 50 lbs, according to the owner's manual.

 

[hodag]

In my FJ55, I just drilled a hole in the floor and put a big I-bolt through it to secure the back one and two more in front for the other straps. I hit the underside of the truck with some Durabak to make it rust resistant.

I use the rear middle seatbelt in my 60, and between that and the front 2 straps being attached to the underside of the seat frame, theres no way my 30lb 3 year old is budging it.

If we have another, and I have to start using both sides, I will probably try to fashion something to utilize the LATCH system.

Hodag

 

[Hank]

http://www.ancra.com/consumer/pdfs/Catalog505A.pdf

Check out this product line up. Very nice product. Simple install, many practical applications.

 

[marcfj60]

http://www.ancra.com/consumer/pdfs/Catalog505A.pdf

Check out this product line up. Very nice product. Simple install, many practical applications.

Yep, that's basically what I was thinking of. I like the aluminum track (L-track, S-track, E-track) better than the steel stuff (A-track). I could buy 6 clips and just have two tracks running adjacent to the wheel wells from the rear hatch to the back of the seatback. The hardest part would be getting to the underside of the floor in the area around the fuel tank.

 

[Hank]

I'm in the same boat. The EX has all the safety you would want for the kid but she likes the cruiser alot. I just want her to be safe. I think I will just pull the tank when I do the sending unit and put in the start of an anchor. I have to do some for the dogs also. My dogs are always harnessed when wheeling.

 

[macmac]

BTW,
is there a place where I can get shoulder strap seat belts for the back? I have an 85 bj60 and it only has seat straps. I think that my son should have one.......

Look at Specter here:

http://www.sor.com/sor/cat305.tam?xax=5606&page.ctx=cat305.tam

I installed the shoulder belts on my 85 fj60. very easy. I like how it holds boy 1 in his booster seat (he doesn't mind it either). Boy 2 is still in the Britax Marathon and I am satisfied with how the lap belt secures it.

 

[89s rule]

As a heads up some car child seats are less safe with tethers rather than seat belts. Might wanna check and see if the seat you have falls into this catagory. I was all about the seat ancors too until I read some info about that. (I think it was consumer reports????)

 

[marcfj60]

...some car child seats are less safe with tethers rather than seat belts....

I want to make sure I'm not confusing anyone with terminology like "tethers". When I refer to the tether, I am only talking about the top tether strap that mounts to the middle back of the child restraint near the top. It is designed to go up and over the setback and attach to a top tether anchor somewhere behind the seat.

I am not talking about the lower anchor straps that LATCH equipped child seats have for securing to LATCH equipped vehicles. The lower anchors are intended to replace the seat belt for securing the child seat to the autombile's seat. The top tether keeps the top of the child seat from tipping forward and the entire seat from shifting excessively.

I plan to keep using the lap belt in my '87 60 as the primary securing device for my child seats. Both child seats I own (for a 3 and 5-year-old) have provisions to be used in LATCH equipped vehicles but none of my vehicles are new enough to have the lower anchor points and I would never attempt to install any because I think vehicle seatbelts are substantially stronger. Plus, the lap belt in my 60 was certified by the manufacturer to comply with FMVSS that it would secure a person with a certain amount of weight in a head on collision at a certain speed with a conservative safety factor.

My primary goal is to add some kind of feature behind the seat that will be a secure place to clip in the top tether while continuing to use the lap belt as the primary holding device for the seat.

I also want to add my recommendation to use 5-point harness child seats as long as possible. Most toddler seats and the NHTSA recommend you stop using the 5-point harness and go to a belt-positioning booster when the child is around 40 pounds (maybe it's 30, I can't remember). That's because very few companies offer a child seat strong enough to secure kids over 40 lbs with a 5-point harness. It's safer to use a belt-positioning booster on a 40+ lbs kid than to keep using the 5-point restraint on a seat that is too small for him/her. I bought a Britax Regent when my son passed the threshhold and it is rated to safely secure him in a 5-point harness untill he is 80 lbs. It was terribly expensive ($200 I think) but that's nothing compared to the value of my son's life. It's very big, heavy and a major hassle to move between the primary family vehicle (Honda Accord) and the 60. But, again, his life is worth the hassle. Once he exceeds the height or weight limit on the Britax, I imagine I will retrofit to the 3-point seatbelts in the 60. Hopefully he'll be tall enough according to NHTSA to safely use them without any booster at all. I'll just have to cross that bridge when I come to it.

If you have time, here's another thread I started regarding using a 5-point harness seat instead of a belt-positioning booster:
https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=121247&highlight=parents

 

[mkaustin]

Marc,

I have three boys and all three grew through toddler stage while riding in the 'Cruiser. I never had a top tether and my two younger sons were each in the car when my wife had a forward moving collision. The first one was not that fast, but in the second collision, my wife was traveling on the hiway access road when a guy entered the road from a side street. She hit him broad side going about 45. Youngest son (about 3 yr at the time) was in a seat similar to the Britax Marathon. The seat was only attached at the base w/ the seat belt. He was laughing when my wife turned around to check on him.
The tether could cause the seat to be more ridig and cause a more agressive restraint on the child. i.e. cause his head to whip forward more than his/her chest.
As long as the seat belt is in good shape, I would do more research on the top tether. JMHO YMMV

 

[toynut]

the top teather is for children in the forward facing position , the L A T C H system replaces vehicle seat belts as each vehicle manufacture has a different configuration making it confusing for consumers .

on my last cruiser i used anchors rated for 1200 lbs and grade 5 bolts driled thru the back and reenforced with fender washers i had three anchors so i could mount my kids seats in any location .

 

[PaulM]

I have an 87 FJ60. I used to haul my sons in the back seat. I tied a loop of webbing (rock climbing) around each of the frame rails behind the rear bumper. I ran each of the loops in front of the bumper and then inside the bottom of the tail gate. I attached the rear tethers of each seat to the respective loops of webbing with a caribiner.

HTH,
Paul M
(first post)

 

[ColoradoLC]

macmac, awesome find. I am going to convert to the 3 points in January. With that and the top latch, they should be very secure, although with a 1 week old in the rear facing position, it will be a while before I need the second one.

mkaustin, that sounds like a scary accident. Crazy how far safety equipment and awareness has come though. I remember being a kid and sleeping in sleeping bags laying down the back of the old family station wagon on trips. I don't thing I ever used a seat belt on the back of that car.

 

[marcfj60]

I remember being a kid and sleeping in sleeping bags laying down the back of the old family station wagon on trips. I don't thing I ever used a seat belt on the back of that car.

I distinctly remember always riding standing up on the seat of my dad's '63 GMC. I don't remember wearing seat belts until the government started brainwashing us in elementary school in the '80's (yes, I am that young). Then we'd go home and give our parents grief about not wearing their seatbelts until they started doing it.

Paul - Excellent idea. I may just have to try that. It sounds simple and inexpensive. That webbing can be rated for thousands of pounds. The only downside I can see is having that webbing spanning the cargo space. That would cause issues on camping trips when the cargo area is full to the headliner.

 

[mkaustin]

ColoradoLC,

When I was growing up, the cars were just coming out w/ rear seat belts. My father went down to the dealership and asked for the rear belts to be installed in his 1 year old car. They laughed as asked, "Why would you want them added?"
This is the same man, who when we were learning to ride bicycles in the mid 60's, tried to find a safety helmet for bicycle riders. He got laughed at for that one too.

Back when cars were a bit larger, we used to quarrel over who got to lay in the back window dash.

The crash was a lot more scary for the wife for sure. When I started examining the child seat and the way it was fastened to the rear seat, I was considering finding a tether. When I thought about the force that the crash caused, I was beginning to consider the "bennefit" of the seat rotating forward w/ the child instead of holding the child back. The 5-point belt harness would keep them in the seat w/ it upside down. (used to carry them to the house like that. They were giggling and laughing the whole way).
My decision was that the movement of the seat would possibly lessen the chance of a neck injury since the bottom restraint on the seat would allow the seat to follow the movement of the child's.
As a former rescue sqad responder, I had seen enough neck injuries to know how easy it was to get hurt.

again JMHO.

 

[JohnnyBoy]

i dont know how much tis matters but rock climbing webing is very static. seatbelt material is quite dyamic it will stetch under load, limiting the force on the person. if using webbing it would be a good idea to tie a few loose knots into it so they tighten up under the stress.