Weak Seatbelt Recoil - Can it be fixed?

[nickbalcombe99]

Hi All,

 

The seatbelts in the front of my soob are starting to die - they require some manual handling to feed them back into the wall! Can this be repaired by taking them out and recoiling them or something along those lines?

 

Thanks,

 

Nick

[NoahDL88]

They are a non serviceable item, replace them with "new" ones from the junk yard, but don't go tearing into them.

[Jon]

The belts in my 84 GL work OK, but Ive had that trouble on other cars I've owned, I've shot some WD-40 into the recoil mechanism. Don't know if the WD-40 hurts the seatbelt material or not, I doubt it, but the WD-40 helped every time I tried it.

[pat hutt]

i dont want to be rude but the recoil that winds up ur seatbelt is also the devise that stops you smashin your head against the steering wheel some things arnt worth stuffing round with youd be best buyin some from the wreckers for $40. and also wd40 is a penatrate so i think it would dry out the belts and possibly make them go brittle so they mite break.

[nickbalcombe99]

Hmmm...not sure whether I wanna spend the money, so might switch the back ones with the front ones, and hope whoever buys it doesn't clue on!!

 

WD-40 sounds a little suspect...might do some more research...I think it has more to do with the springs wearing out??

 

Thanks anyway guys,

 

Nick

[Sweet82]

I've swapped front to rear before on different vehicles.

 

Worked fine.

 

Rear seat belts are usually just about new.

[baccaruda]

"Tri-Flow" would be a better choice for that than WD-40... reccomended to me by a bicycle enthusiast, for the hubs and such.

[NoahDL88]

I've swapped front to rear before on different vehicles.

 

Worked fine.

 

Rear seat belts are usually just about new.

 

You may not want to do that, they have a sensor ball inside and it is setup neutral to their mounting position, if their mouting position is different it will either lockup on you when you try to pull out the webbing, or worst case it won't lock up when you roll, or suddenly decellerate.

[torxxx]

I fixed the seatbelts in the brat this past weekend. I used PB Blaster on the springs inside the rewind mechanism. Pry the cover halfway off so the spring doesnt pop out. Spray the hell out of it and then work the belt in and out while spraying. This will get all the gunk out of the spring.

 

should work fine after that. if not, replace the whole belt assembly. You will need a 15mm to do this. It is one of the only things on a subaru that you'll need that 15mm wrench that you've never used in your toolbox.

[SkankinPickle]

dude, you can take them a part and recoil the spring a little to regenerate it from twenty years of use. just pay special attention when you are taking it apart so you can put it back together exactly the way it came apart.

...and my drivers seatbelt still performs how it should, if not better.

 

(speaking of EA-81 belts here)

[wagonist]

Firstly, its a 16mm nut & you're right, they're the only 16mm bolts I've ever found on any Suby.

 

I have rewound the seatbelt springs in an L series.

If it's the front ones on the L series you don't need to disassemble the spring mechanism. I'd taken some pix of what I'm talking about, but now my camera batteries are flat.

 

First though, check that the loop near your shoulder is clean. This will build up grime from your body & then collect on this, stopping the seatbelt from sliding past properly.

 

The steps are:

1. Remove seat belts from car
   
2. pull the seatbelts all the way out. To do this you need to hold the reel mechanism at the same angle as it's held in the car.
   
3. WHATEVER YOU DO NOW, DO NOT LET GO OF THE MECHANISM, OR IT WILL UNWIND.
   
4. at the reel end you can see a loop of material on the opposite side to where the belt comes in..push this through with a thin BLUNT object from the side where the belt comes from.there is a plastic piece inside a loop of material. push this out of the loop.
   
5. you can now pull back through the seatbelt from the reel to detach it.
   
6. wind in the mechanism AGAINST the tension. ie to make it tighter.
   
7. reinsert the seatbelt through the reel MAKING SURE ITS THE SAME WAY AS REMOVED. You'll probably need the blunt object again
   
8. reinsert the plastic piece
   
9. pull on the seatbelt to pull the loop back into the reel.
   
10. let everything go & you have a tighter spring.
    

I'd suggest you read this before you start, & then reread it.

I'm not sure if the earlier models are the same.

And you can't do this to the rears because they are sewn around the centre reel part.

[wagonist]

Pics added. Click on the thumbnail for a bigger pic (sorry bout the brightness)

[Sweet82]

You may not want to do that, they have a sensor ball inside and it is setup neutral to their mounting position, if their mouting position is different it will either lockup on you when you try to pull out the webbing, or worst case it won't lock up when you roll, or suddenly decellerate.

 

Right!

 

They have got to be mounted exactly as they were. Make sure the part numbers are the same. In my Trooper I had to use the opposite rear in the front to replace the mechanisms.

 

It's a cheap easy fix.

[NoahDL88]

Its not worth it, don't tear into your retractor, unless you trust your skills with your life, just replace the unit, they are NOT SERVICEABLE.

[Flowmastered87GL]

I think you all should listen to Noah... he works with seat belts for a living in Detroit

[hooziewhatsit]

on a similar topic...

 

what do you all think about 'upgrading' the rear lap belts with shoulder belts from a boneyard?

 

I've torn the trim out some cars at the junkyard and cars with lap belts appear to already have all the mounting holes for the shoulder parts. Seems like it would be a pretty basic bolt in deal.

 

I don't have friends ride the in back too often, but when I do, they always complain about the 'self-tightening POS belts' that usually get unbuckled often to release the tension (then re-buckled, of course).

 

thanks