New Seat Belts for my 84

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EWTexas

EWTexas

10 Year 15 Year
Joined
Oct 1, 2010
Threads
56
Messages
299
Location
Lubbock Tx
Needed new belts so I came up with this.
Belts from SeltBeltsPlus.com

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1st picture White arrow is OEM braket mounted on new belt after cutting off tab on top, see old belt... Red shows what part of old I used cut off blade to remove from old belt so I could use OEM screws...blue shows where I changed angle of old mount to a true 90 so belt would clear the door frame

View attachment 535227

2nd picture shows the braket I got from site to mount to bottom of belt to floor
3rd shows pin I ground off to use OEM braket on the short section of belt that has the releasr button. I will have more pictures if I can figure out how to upload more then 3 and BTW they work great and fit perfect. Now I will build up some covers to replace my old cracked ones to cover the lower belt on door frame, dont know if I with texture them or cover with something. Going to make some molds to make them out of filberglass so it it works might sell some here if people need any? :cheers:
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Thanks for posting the detailed picks, my front seat belts are ready for replacement also. How smooth is the operation of the new belts?

Peter
 
Hey, that's great! I need this, too. Thanks, E-dubbya !

But your attachments are not working -- Were those links to seatbelts.com ?
 
It's SeatBeltsPlus.com...sorry haven't figured out how to add links:hhmm: They have different styles..the 3 points ones for 60 something is the ones I used..you will need one of the assy kits also because they say they don't come with the belts so I ordered 2 and got 4 so maybe they threw in a couple with the belts anyway:confused: the kits have the L brackets and bolts.
 
Hey, E-W, if you get a chance, could you fix the title of this thread from "seat beats", to seat belts -- the mis-spelling makes it impossible for people to find when title searching. :D

Thanks!
:cool:
 
open and fixed
 
Well I finally got around to doing this, too. Mine was a little different since I have a 5/85, but it still works fine.

1st pic is OE seat belt vs New aftermarket from seatbeltsplus.com ... Same as EW.
You can see the bracket is a different. Just grind off the small rivet in the center and the thing pops out.

Drill a hole in the bracket to accommodate the bolt that comes with the seat belt hold down kit and bolt to re-tractor mechanism.

I could have cut off the top of the bracket, but I just bent it out a bit and it clears the belt so I just left it alone.
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Bend the bottom of the bracket slightly so the mechanism clears the body and it bolts up perfectly.

The buckle is the same as EW.
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More.

Overall, this is easy to do, but I have to say the quality of the OE Toyota belt seems a bit better than these aftermarket ones. I suppose they have to meet DOT specs, and they're USA made, so I'm not worrying about it. But were I to do it again, the cost of the OE belt is about $50 more than the aftrmkt, so I might think about just spending the extra for the Toyo belt.

:hillbilly:
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I need to put this on my to-do list. I'm tired of watching the passenger belt get closed in the door... I took it out and tried a bit of clean and lube, but it didn't help.
 
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Yeah, I think the clean and lube is worthless - I tried the same thing, without success, and eventually the buckle part got slammed in the door enough that it broke and had a sharp edge that would constantly jab me in the side.
 
Spike,
Thanks for the great write-up and photos. I've always known my belt mechanisms were shot and took on replacing them last night. This was an easy job thanks to you (especially the 2nd belt). I have an '84 and it is the same. The next beer is on me! :beer:

Spike Strip said:
Well I finally got around to doing this, too. Mine was a little different since I have a 5/85, but it still works fine.

1st pic is OE seat belt vs New aftermarket from seatbeltsplus.com ... Same as EW.
You can see the bracket is a different. Just grind off the small rivet in the center and the thing pops out.

Drill a hole in the bracket to accommodate the bolt that comes with the seat belt hold down kit and bolt to re-tractor mechanism.

I could have cut off the top of the bracket, but I just bent it out a bit and it clears the belt so I just left it alone.
Click to expand...
 
I successfully fixed the spools on my rear belts.

They had rusted so that the little doohickey that the wound up belt has to slide under to unlock the ratcheting mechanism, and spool in. The rust made it too rough for the belt to reel all the way in with the strength of its own spring.

So, I reeled them all the way out, and ground the rust off with an abrasive reamer on a dremel, then polished it smooth with rouge with a polishing disk/barrel on the same dremel. I really think that the polishing was a critical step, because the 'rough' but rust-free metal was no more smooth than the rust that was on there. I can forsee it rusting again after months or years of high humidity, but it'll only take half an hour to polish the rust off again, and I'll probably seal the metal with some paint or epoxy next time.

Anyway, now they reel themselves all the way in, and people can ride in my back seat without needing a short lecture on how the spooling/ratcheting mechanism works.
 
I'm curious - are we replacing our belts because they have some sort of expiration date, or because the mechanisms are failing or worn? My belts have the typical staining and sun fade from 24 years of use, but as far as I know the webbing and hardware are still mechanically good. Does anyone have evidence that they need to replaced just as a time-based measure?

I found that the belts were retracting sluggishly, but upon removal of the B-pillar panel, I found that the belt had gotten twisted just above the retractor. Straightening it out and lubing the axle helped a lot.
 
Super77 said:
I'm curious - are we replacing our belts because they have some sort of expiration date, or because the mechanisms are failing or worn? My belts have the typical staining and sun fade from 24 years of use, but as far as I know the webbing and hardware are still mechanically good. Does anyone have evidence that they need to replaced just as a time-based measure?

I found that the belts were retracting sluggishly, but upon removal of the B-pillar panel, I found that the belt had gotten twisted just above the retractor. Straightening it out and lubing the axle helped a lot.
Click to expand...

These are replaced because of some failing issue. Like mine do not have the auto stop on the quick jerk which means that mechanism has failed internally even though they retract just fine.
 
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