Something isn't right. All of the one's that we have gotten were the 2 point black seat belts with the 'loose' not sleeved belt at the transmission hump. Are you sure you got PO numbers from me?
Hey, HarleyGA, can you expand on what you meant by " can't pull the belt down from the retractor without it locking up" . Where did you mount the retractor? Got another pic showing the position of it? MD
The retractor is mounted on the floor in the factory position for a bench seat. I don't know if that mounting spot is the same position as used for buckets. The car had a bench but now has buckets. The retractor works smoothly if you pull straight up but once the belt goes through the roof mount it takes a sharp angle going to the front seat. That angle causes the retractor to lock up when you pull on the strap to buckle up. I overcome this only by reaching back to the retractor and pulling the strap all the way out before I buckle up. Inconvenient but it works.
Here is a picture. I can't move the retractor but I'm wondering if things would work better if I move the floor mount located just ahead of the retractor forward several inches so it's more on the side of the seat.
Thanks for the pic Harley. I plan to talk with the rep from Seat Belt Planet next week. I noticed your retractor is at about a 30 degree angle from vertical, pointing back towards where the shoulder belt "pulley" is. I then took a look at the retractors on a few modern vehicles and noticed they are in a vertical position. Having said that, my factory lap belt retractor in my 73 Mav with the LDO interior is at a 45 degree angle and is a few inches behind the seat, tilting towards the seat. I guess the important thing is if the retractor was designed to be in a vertical position, or tilted position as I imagine that might affect the inertia mechanism inside. I'll check back with the rep and see what he suggests. By the way, the anchor point for the shoulder belt near the roof on my LDO is about a foot behind the front bucket seat.
Hello: Sorry to hear you are having so much problems with your retractor. I too did have bench seats on my 73 and was converted over to LDO reclining high back buckets. Mine is the exact set up you have (since you used my order number with Steve), I have found that the retractor is pretty sensitive and I found that pulling slow and smoothly eliminates any premature locking up of the mechanism. I see from your picture that you have that 6 inch extension bracket which moves the belt anchor away from the retractor towards the front of the car. Even if you where to relocate the retractor rearwards to the pillar so it is more "vertical", the mechanism will still lock up if you pull it too quickly. Again, it does not matter what position the retractor is, vertical, 30 or 45 degrees off, if it is pulled out too quickly, it will lock up. I believe that is how it is designed, to react quickly if you get in an accident! It maybe a little inconvenience, but I have adapted and got used to it, much better than my original set up! Also, the retractor should not be bolted down so tight that it does not pivot on the bolt. I am using the original T50 torx bolt that has a shoulder (without threads) below the head, so once torqued down, shoulder bottoms out against the rocker panel and allows the retractor to still pivot. Hope this helps, if you still have issues, would suggest giving Steve (Seatbeltplanet) a call and perhaps he can shed some light on this issue, always more than willing to listen and help, great customer service! Good luck! Cheers, David Hey Greg (Mav Dude) maybe this answered some of your questions about these belts! On the 74 and newer models, the location of the roof mounted belt was moved closer towards the pillar.... On my 73, when I had the headliner removed, I could see where the location of this new mounting location was, but it was not drilled and thus did not have the reinforced nut...........
As dyent states, slow and smooth eliminates most of the lock up problem. Other than that, the new 3 points are a big improvement over the factory belts.
Hi everyone. I spoke with Steve at Seatbeltplanet to ask him about the retractor. He confirmed that the belts must be pulled slow and smooth. He mentioned the retractors were "web sensitive" ; that is the retractor knows it's supposed to lock up when the webbed belt is pulled at a high velocity. He claims the other seatbelt places use the same design of retractor. He also confirmed the angle of retractor makes no difference. Also, if you look at HarleyGA's photo the shoulder belt comes with an 8" extension to position the seat belt angle to be a better fit as it comes to top of the bucket seat. Hope that helps. MD
Hi HarleyGA. On the last photo it appears the floor mount for lap belt is already forward of the retractor. Was that done with a 6" extension on the end of the lap belt like Dyent mentioned? Thanks. MD
