Seat Belt questions

[Loganator17]

My drivers side seatbelt won't roll back down. It still springs a little bit, but only pulls back in about 6 inches from fully extended. I took off the panel and can't seem to make it roll back down... Does anyone know how to fix this problem?

If this isn't fixable, any ideas for a temporary solution?

Logan

[timsrv]

Sounds like it's time for you to replace the seat belt. If new is still available it will likely cost around $100 - $150. Another option (what I do) is to get a used one from a salvage yard. Yards around here charge around $20 for a good one. Tim

[kcg795]

Unfortunately, you won't find a used seat belt that hasn't yet been smashed by the door.

[llamavan]

The OEM seat belts are NLA, although there are aftermarket seat belts. I've not tried aftermarket and can't comment on any aspect of them.

Gwen

[timsrv]

I've found "good" ones in salvage yards before. Although "good" used Toyota belt assy's are typically far from perfect, they are still usable. Finding them still good AND the right color can be difficult. Tim

[Loganator17]

I went through three salvage yards today before I found the right one. Wrong color, but I always liked brown anyway. I figure I can't be too picky with a van at 200k.
Thanks

[Orion J.]

Hello,
I am assembling my seats after a successful re-upholstery project. I am having trouble attaching the seat belt receptacle to the driver side seat. I attached a photo, and circled the hole in red which I am having issues with. The bolt I previously believed would fit, as circled in green is not fitting. The mystery hole must be stripped or has a different sized bolt that I misplaced? I thought the bolt sizes where all the same of these.

Has anyone undergone this process? The project took months and I can't remember the correct fitting. Next time I will take more pics.

Thanks!
1461

[timsrv]

I don't have experience with this specific issue, but, typically seat belt bolts are fine thread & most other bolts are course thread. Trying to put the wrong threaded bolt in (depending on how much force you exert) can mess up the threads (so that no bolt will fit correctly). If this has happened, you may need to chase the threads in the hole & on the bolt using a correctly sized tap & die. I hope this helps. Good luck. Tim

[I-man]

hi all.
Has anyone added a shoulder belt to their rear seats, or know if one can be added?

[JDM VANMAN]

I don't think any of the 80's era mini vans had shoulder belts for the rear passengers cause it wasn't a DOT safety requirement. I think the 91' Previa's were the first to have them.

This is an assumption based on my 87' van and 89' that both don't have shoulder belts. But I do know that it did become a DOT requirement after a certain year but not sure when.

[I-man]

Thanks vanman.
I don't think it's required, but my 10 year old son has already picked out 'his' seat, and it doesn't have a shoulder belt. For safety sake I really need to add one.

[originalkwyjibo]

I believe '89 was the year for passenger cars but it doesn't appear to apply to vans as many on here have said they have or have seen an '89 without them. I don't know if an '85 will have it but I have seen many vans in the wrecking yard that have the nuts for the upper mount welded into the body. I installed third row shoulder belts in my '88 but had to fabricate reinforcement plates for the lower mount and the retractor mount(Which mounts in the rear speaker hole). Mine had the third row upper nut but not the second row. You would have to find an "89 being parted out and hope it had the belts and trim pieces for a factory look. You could possibly install aftermarket as well. Of course the thing to remember here is the massive safety factor involved. If this is even remotely outside of your skill level than find a professional. I searched "shoulder belt on TVP and came up with a few threads that may be of help: http://www.toyotavanpeople.com/forum/search.php?keywords=shoulder+belt&sid=57139dbaab0c146496a1bcdbe6d1fdc8
Good luck.

[JDM VANMAN]

If there's no viable option then you might want to consider getting a 5 point harness booster seat that has a rear seat latch? Depending on yours son's height and weight there's some that go up to 100lbs max and 57" height.

All my younger kids are pretty thick my 6 and 5 year old daughter are both 75lbs and my 6 year old son is pushing 60lbs all are little juggernauts. They usually roll in the Suburban or the Sequoia and I only take them on short trips in the other 2 vans but they'll roll with the lap belts.

Here's a link for example of a booster seat-

http://www.target.com/p/kids-embrace-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtle-booster-seat/-/A-15007387

[JDM VANMAN]

There you go... Thank you original for adding in the link and your experience.

[I-man]

thanks y'all.
It's a little more complicated then I thought. I should have point out that I don't care about it appearing to be original, or how it looks at all, just safety.

[originalkwyjibo]

1989 EPC
http://www.japan-parts.eu/US/3/MBP970.png
1988 EPC
http://www.japan-parts.eu/US/3/MBF388A.png

[djshimon]

I took some out of a junkyard Toyota Van-must've been an '89. I've only installed one so far but it works great in the back corner. I did have to take out the rear speaker for it.

[I-man]

thanks, that's interesting. Mine's an '85, so I don't know if they're the same. I guess i need to investigate.

[Burntboot]

'89 is the only year that may have rear shoulder belts, have seen 3 '89 vans in various yards.
Only one van (LE version) had all 4 belts from the factory (but sadly, they had already been removed).
The other 2 (both DX's) were only equipped with 3 rear shoulder belts, both were missing the middle RS belt, those 2 also had a body brace across said hole where the retractor would have mounted (as does mine).

On my '88, all the lower anchor and upper pivot points were present and accounted for.
It was only the rear "speaker" holes that lacked the welded-in nuts for install, I did inspect the mounting points of the donor vans to see if the factory had reinforced the mounting area, but found no difference to my '88.

I opted to weld nuts to oversize washers, (Gr 8, 1/2" hardware) then used body-panel adhesive to glue the O/S washers to the backside of the panel.
(the glue is only there to locate the nut, once the bolts are in and torqued, all load is on them, not the glue)

It is a fairly simple operation, at least for the 3 positions.
If I ever do find that mysterious 4th belt, I will have to modify the RS body support to accommodate the retractor, but it's not a high priority at this point in time.
BB

[I-man]

I have an scion xb that has a center seat with a shoulder belt. I need to investigate the possiblity of fixing a belted center seat in my '85 TV.

[Gambit]

I'd like to get some seat belts with a bit more snap left in them. Does anyone know what other junkyard cars would have ones that would work?

It looks like the part # for our Vans was replaced by Tacoma seat belts at some point - anyone done that swap?

Other 80's Toyotas maybe?

[PNW vanwagon]

not sure if it helps you: but i saw a youtube video that fixed my floppy seatbelts. you soak and squeeze them in almost boiling water + dishsoap you'll be stunned by the amount of brown / black stuff that comes out. then take 6" of PVC pipe and slit one side open lengthwise. feed the soapy belt into the slit, squeeze while sliding it down the seatbelt. again you'll be amazed at the amount of dirt that comes out. i did this 3 sets of hot soapy water. let them dry and sprayed a little bit of silicone on the belts and now they retract and snap back well enough.

[JDM VANMAN]

not sure if it helps you: but i saw a youtube video that fixed my floppy seatbelts. you soak and squeeze them in almost boiling water + dishsoap you'll be stunned by the amount of brown / black stuff that comes out. then take 6" of PVC pipe and slit one side open lengthwise. feed the soapy belt into the slit, squeeze while sliding it down the seatbelt. again you'll be amazed at the amount of dirt that comes out. i did this 3 sets of hot soapy water. let them dry and sprayed a little bit of silicone on the belts and now they retract and snap back well enough.


I watched a couple videos too, but my driver side belt doesn’t even retract, so I’m guessing this process won’t work in that situation? My passenger side still retracts so I’ll give that side a try. But as for the driver side, will this work?

thank you

JDM

[PNW vanwagon]

It did work for my driver side and it also did not retract at all just hung loose. The passenger side was about 50% ok before . I'd say the drivers side is about 75% good now - retracts with a little coaxing. The passenger sides about 100% good now. I like cheap easy fixes and this worked out well enough for me

[Ace MM]

As long as they extend the proper length and attach to the vehicle in the same places, any should work well. I'd start with Toyotas.

Obviously get all pieces.
I've done this in other cars. Only ever tested one of them.

[cpginkpt]

Wondering if there is any way to get some more tension in the (driver) seatbelt retractor.

Mine works fine - not binding and looks clean inside, just doesn't retract all the way when you unsnap the belt without a nudge.

Sometimes the buckle itself lays down low when it doesn't retract fully and then jams the door (or worse, breaks the little door light plastic).

I didn't see any way to adjust the tension but thought I would ask.

[Yahshoor]

Wondering if there is any way to get some more tension in the (driver) seatbelt retractor.

I watched a simple seatbelt-rejuve technique documented in a YouTube video made by someone with a Tarago or Estima. (So probably AUS or NZ.) It's pretty easy; I don't know if it will work for your situation or not, but it's easy and I don't see why it wouldn't work on any similar seatbelt mechanism.
https://youtu.be/Bz7Wvrf1ITs

[Yahshoor]

I am going to attempt installing a shoulder belt in the second row of my '87 Van. The car thieves dumped our really nice five-point car seat somewhere, which is a shame but the kid was aging out of it anyways. So I am pushed to post in this thread somewhat earlier than I really wanted to, but I planned to anyhow.

I have pulled off the pillar panels and verified that I have the shoulder mount point bolt welded in on the driver's side second row, but not in the passenger's side second row. Makes no sense, but good thing for me I only have one teen in the front passenger seat and one grade-schooler in the second row captain's chair. However, I can't find the floor mount. Any of you second-row captain's chair shoulder-belt-sporting '89 van owners want to suggest to me where to look for the lower mount? Is it in the floor, or on the captain's chair?

I expect that if it's not there at all I can drill a hole in the floor and install a mounting plate under the van (like this one (https://www.wescoperformance.com/mountingplate1.html) from Wesco). I also could conceivably just track down a shoulder-belt-only and attach its retractor end to the pillar and the buckle to the same bolt that the lap belt's buckle is on... (:rolleyes:)

Also, this is less important but I'm still curious: There's no nut welded into the second row passengers' side pillar for the shoulder belt. There's no way that I can think of to get a mounting plate in there, either. (That mounting plate should be riveted inside the pillar.) I couldn't... slide in one from the side after removing the rear window? Remove exterior body panels to gain access? Any ideas?

[Burntboot]

The lower mount for the Pass side middle row is just aft the sliding door, you have to pull the RR 1/4 panel interior trim to get to it but suspect you will find the same situation as my 88.
There is a vertical support panel that runs right thru the middle of it.
I didn't bother altering the bodyside as I have never found a donor belt for that position.

As to the rear most positions, I too, had no nuts.
The seatbelt hardware is special thread and diameters and difficult to locate in these parts
I ended up finding some 1/2in nuts and fender washers, welded the nuts to the washers then used panel bonding adhesive to mount the washers to the body panel.
The 1/2in bolts just fit thru the retractor mounting hole

BB

[Yahshoor]

Thanks! That's really useful. Using the factory lower mount might be impossible, so maybe I will wind up doing my own floor mount. But I was surprised to read this:



The seatbelt hardware is special thread and diameters and difficult to locate in these parts


So: are Toyota Van seat belt anchor bolts not 7/16 #20 fine thread? I thought that this was pretty standard. Are you maybe talking about a TV sold on the Canadian market? Maybe they used an oddball metric size. (Lord, it's hard to be happy when you're not using the metric system.)

Anyhow, I have plugged the part numbers from the EPC posts from the previous page at ToyotaPartsDeal and have found that the lower anchor bolt for the driver's side second-row captain's chair for the 1989 (and the bolt for the wall-mount lower anchor for the retractable bench seat belt) are in stock, and cost $0.17 apiece. Seems like throwing some spare change at an experiment might be worthwhile. I'll grab some SAE 7/16 #20s as well (at the ruinous price of $1.95 apiece, oh my) and do some side-by-side comparison.

[Burntboot]

Canadian market is so small it doesn't justify anything "special"

It was my impression that those seat belt retainer bolts were 11mm x 1.0 thread pitch. But that is probably close enough to 7/16in NF to work.

Round these parts, 7/16in hardware is not particularly common either, but when you do find them, they are usually kept between the hand-hewn square nails and the manual butter churns.

[Finnigan]

Hey all, did anyone have any luck finding those original ring bolts? (PN 90109-11009)? Or at least any luck replacing them with the 7/16 seat belt ring bolts? I'm trying to set up some rear seats in my Son's '85 cargo model. I already have the seats and the belts, just not the ring bolts. I was considering purchasing the 7/16 bolts on Amazon and just drilling out the original holes if necessary to pass them through and add the nut and washer under the floor.

[Burntboot]

If the vehicle already has the welded-in nuts, the best thing would be the proper bolt

Seatbelt bolts are different threads so as to not get mixed up with regular bolts, that being said, they are not "van specific", meaning you should be able to grab bolts from many cars, most Toyo's off that era and possibly other brands.
Only important to match length, thread and shoulder if it has one.
I would rather have the right thing in there rather than a construction grade SAE, though something is better than nothing.

It is important to remember that if anything ever goes sideways, you will end up being held responsible.
Its the very reason why many shops avoid "servicing" safety systems

I used non-standard hardware as there was nothing in there to begin with.
I went over size and overkill and weighed the associated risks and decided to accept them.
YMMV

[Finnigan]

Ideally I'd LOVE to use the OEM bolts, but they appear to be "unobtanium." I may try to get the proper nuts (I saw grade 8 mentioned somewhere) for the lap belt reel that mounts into the wall as I have those bolts, but the ring bolts are another story. What I found is these which I believe are made for seatbelts, but in imperial size, not metric.

https://www.amazon.com/RaceQuip-700060-Diameter-Long-Hardware/dp/B004QMFK3A/ref=sr_1_8?dchild=1&keywords=seat+belt+bolts&qid=1618513223&sr=8-8

https://www.amazon.com/RaceQuip-700050-Diameter-Mount-Hardware/dp/B004QMJ85Q/ref=sr_1_7?dchild=1&keywords=seat+belt+bolts&qid=1618513223&sr=8-7

If I researched correctly, the originals were 11mm, fine thread, and these are just about the same size.

[Burntboot]

My bad, forgot about those guys.
You could probably make something work, but the factory ones are much more robust and I would hate to take a chance, given its purpose.

A pick&pull would be your best bet, or perhaps there's a forum member on the right side of the border, that could spare a couple?

[Burntboot]

And I hadn't checked your links, but they do look like a capable work around.

[jannifiddle]

The OEM seat belts are NLA, although there are aftermarket seat belts. I've not tried aftermarket and can't comment on any aspect of them.

Gwen


Any advice on where to find aftermarket seatbelts for the front? I don't see anything on rockauto.

thanks!

[BelueJacques]

Attempting to install a 3pt shoulder belt in 2nd row of my 87 van - it has the welded in nut. But the wesco belt supplied/typical 7/16x20 is too big and the M10 x 1.25 x 25mm I ordered from toyotapartsdeal is too small.
Anyone have any idea what size I should be looking for?

I had read that m11x1.25 should be the correct size but ver hard to find and so 7/16x20 was close enough….but seems like I shouldn’t just force it in there?!

[timsrv]

Since this is a safety restraint I can't recommend doing this, but in a similar situation I just got a 7/16-20 tap (https://www.amazon.com/Utoolmart-16inch-20-Imperial-Maintenance-Rethreading/dp/B0828VZMNX/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?crid=6H0JUMM056NV&keywords=7%2F16-20+tap&qid=1665546222&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIzLjMwIiwicXNhIjoiMy4xNiIsInFzcCI6IjM uMDcifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=7%2F16-20%2Caps%2C178&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzQlI5Qk9QMDczVlNNJ mVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNDgxNzcxMjdFNVNRSlk2TDFJSSZlbmN yeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMTM3MjYxNURKVzVXUlNXT1ZOJndpZGdld E5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm9 0TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==), put a little oil on it and forced it through the metric nut. Then the 7/16-20 bolt threaded in like a dream. YMMV.....:dizzy: Tim

[Burntboot]

The other option is to hit a pick and pull and get some for another vehicle.

All Toyota's from that era, should use the same bolts.

[tpmeader]

This might be a stupid question, and I apologize if it was a already answered before but I'm driving while doing this and I didn't have time to read through everything. Has anyone tried replacing just the spring for their seat belt? Mine snapped in half and I've tried repairing it to no avail which I didn't expect would actually work. But had to try. But yeah so again my question is has anyone actually tried replacing just the retraction spring. I've already had mine apart it's actually very easy to do if I can find it but does anyone maybe know where to get it?

I forgot to mention I have a 1987 LE. If anyone has any knowledge on this please let me know thank you.