[DeTomaso] Seat Belt Retraction Fix
Sean Keane
jskeane6 at gmail.com
Mon Jul 11 20:16:05 EDT 2022
Hi Dennis,
Yours look a lot different from mine. Given that I didn't have any
retractors on the bulkhead, even though I should have, makes me think mine
had already been replaced at least once before prior to my purchase of the
car. It doesn't look like my experience will be useful to you. I'm sorry I
can't be of more help, but keep sniffing around and I'll bet you find the
solution.
Sincerely,
Sean
On Thu, Jul 7, 2022, 17:12 Dennis Valdez <sjcarguy60 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Sean,
>
> Thanks for sharing your experience!
>
> I too have been contemplating a fix for my finicky seat belt retractors.
> My car is a late 1974 with the shoulder and lap belts connected to the male
> end of the buckle and two retractors, one at the base of the firewall, and
> one under the plate with the slot in it that attaches to the rocker. Seems
> every time my wife gets in the passenger seat one or both of the retractors
> either lock when they shouldn't or wont lock when they should, and since
> there are two of them it can be frustrating to get properly buckled. There
> should be a solution for those who want to remain stock appearing without a
> 5pt harness.
>
> I was able to find a seat belt vendor who has a replacement belt system
> that they claim should work in a Pantera. (as yet to be seen) The setup has
> only one long belt and one retractor spool, replacing the one on the
> bulkhead and a solid mount for the rocker. A modern style buckle slides
> along the length of the belt, and free a sliding shoulder mount to replace
> the factory one at the top of the firewall. It would work like most any
> modern car you get into.
>
> The problem, as you point out, is separating the rocker mounting plate
> with the slot in it from the factory setup without cutting the belt.
>
> I tried unsuccessfully to do what you described in your writeup:
>
> *"...By fully extending the belt on the old unit, I was able to pull
> the end*
>
> *of the belt up out of the slot in the spool and remove a plastic rod*
>
> *that locks it into place. Then, I could pull the belt through the spool*
> *and off of the old unit."*
>
> I unwound the spool as far as it would go but did not see a way to detach
> the belt. I am not seeing the plastic rod that locks the belt to the
> spool. See attached photos.
>
> Perhaps my retractors are different than yours or I'm missing something?
> Please take a look and let me know your thoughts.
>
> Thanks,
> Dennis
>
>
>
>
>
> On Tuesday, May 31, 2022 at 11:13:55 PM PDT, Sean Keane <
> jskeane6 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> I've been fighting a failed seat belt retractor on the passenger side of
> my Pantera for a few weeks. I finally fixed it, although it took me a
> while to figure out an optimal fix. I'll forego descriptions of the
> several attempts I made to fix the broken unit, since those were
> unsuccessful, but believe me I tried. I was unable to get replacement
> units from the Pantera vendors I called, and if they had been in stock,
> they would have been very expensive. Here's what worked:
>
> I bought what looked to be high quality new seat belt units for $50 a
> pair on eBay (they are also available through Walmart online.) The ones
> I happened to get were for a Jeep Wrangler, but all I was really looking
> for was retractor units that had the same general form factor as the
> broken unit from the rocker panel of the Pantera. My hope was to be able
> to remove the part that houses the spring and replace the broken part on
> the existing unit. I couldn't just replace the whole assembly because
> the seat belt itself was different (both the size of the buckle tab and
> the ordering of the buckle and the anchors points), and I couldn't get
> the end through the slot in the plate that bolts to the floor. I started
> by tearing apart the new unit I bought that went on the driver's side,
> since I didn't need that one. I discovered that I could indeed get the
> spring part off, but I had two problems. First, I wasn't completely
> confident that I hadn't weakened the part in the course of prying it
> off. Second, adapting it mechanically was going to be a lot harder than
> I had hoped.
>
> Fooling around with the new unit and the broken unit led to the answer.
> By fully extending the belt on the old unit, I was able to pull the end
> of the belt up out of the slot in the spool and remove a plastic rod
> that locks it into place. Then, I could pull the belt through the spool
> and off of the old unit. It was already through the slot in the metal
> floor plate, but I could have easily threaded it through there now if
> needed. Then, I did the same thing on the new unit, holding the tension
> on the spool once I removed the new (incorrect) seat belt. Then it was a
> simple matter of threading the old seat belt through the slot in the
> spool, inserting the plastic rod, slotting it back into the spool where
> it locked into place, and letting the spring retract the belt. The
> retractor then got bolted to the floor plate, the floor plate got bolted
> to the floor, and the other end of the seat belt got bolted to the
> bulkhead. It works like a champ.
>
> This new unit looks way better made than the one I replaced, so I
> believe it will last a long time. As with many of these projects, what
> took hours to puzzle out only took about 10 minutes to execute, once the
> solution was understood. Here's what I learned from this exercise:
>
> 1. Don't try to fix the old unit.
>
> 2. Replace the entire retraction mechanism, not just the part with the
> spring in it.
>
> 3. Seat belts are easy to swap between retractors once you understand
> how they are attached to the spool, which also lets you thread them
> through the slot in the floor plate.
>
> 4. Be ready to attach the old belt to the new retractor once the new
> belt is removed, and don't let off of the spring tension in the
> retractor between those two operations.
>
> Maybe this is obvious to everyone else, but it wasn't obvious to me. I
> hope this description helps someone else who has the same problem.
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Sean Keane
>
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>
>
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-------------- next part --------------
Hi Dennis,
Yours look a lot different from mine. Given that I didn't have any
retractors on the bulkhead, even though I should have, makes me think
mine had already been replaced at least once before prior to my
purchase of the car. It doesn't look like my experience will be useful
to you. I'm sorry I can'tA be of more help, but keep sniffing around
and I'll bet you find the solution.
Sincerely,
Sean
On Thu, Jul 7, 2022, 17:12 Dennis Valdez <[1]sjcarguy60 at yahoo.com>
wrote:
Sean,
Thanks for sharing your experience!A A
I too have been contemplating a fix for my finicky seat belt
retractors. My car is a late 1974 with the shoulder and lap belts
connected to the male end of the buckle and two retractors, one at the
base of the firewall, and one under the plate with the slot in it that
attaches to the rocker.A Seems every time my wife gets in the
passenger seat one or both of the retractors either lock when they
shouldn't or wont lock when they should, and since there are two of
them it can be frustrating to get properly buckled. There should be a
solution for those who want to remain stock appearing without a 5pt
harness.
I was able to find a seat belt vendor who has a replacement belt system
that they claim should work in a Pantera. (as yet to be seen) The setup
has only one long belt and one retractor spool, replacing the one on
the bulkhead and a solid mount for the rocker. A modern style buckle
slides along the length of the belt, and free a sliding shoulder mount
to replace the factory one at the top of the firewall. It would work
like most any modern car you get into.A
The problem, as you point out, is separating the rocker mounting plate
with the slot in it from the factory setup without cutting the
belt.A A
I tried unsuccessfully to do what you described in your writeup:
A A A "...By fully extending the belt on the old unit, I was able to
pull the end
of the belt up out of the slot in the spool and remove a plastic rod
that locks it into place. Then, I could pull the belt through the spool
and off of the old unit."
I unwound the spool as far as it would go but did not see a way to
detach the belt.A A I am not seeing the plastic rod that locks the belt
to the spool.A See attached photos.
Perhaps my retractors are different than yours or I'm missing
something?A Please take a look and let me know your thoughts.
Thanks,
Dennis
On Tuesday, May 31, 2022 at 11:13:55 PM PDT, Sean Keane
<[2]jskeane6 at gmail.com> wrote:
I've been fighting a failed seat belt retractor on the passenger side
of
my Pantera for a few weeks. I finally fixed it, although it took me a
while to figure out an optimal fix. I'll forego descriptions of the
several attempts I made to fix the broken unit, since those were
unsuccessful, but believe me I tried. I was unable to get replacement
units from the Pantera vendors I called, and if they had been in stock,
they would have been very expensive. Here's what worked:
I bought what looked to be high quality new seat belt units for $50 a
pair on eBay (they are also available through Walmart online.) The ones
I happened to get were for a Jeep Wrangler, but all I was really
looking
for was retractor units that had the same general form factor as the
broken unit from the rocker panel of the Pantera. My hope was to be
able
to remove the part that houses the spring and replace the broken part
on
the existing unit. I couldn't just replace the whole assembly because
the seat belt itself was different (both the size of the buckle tab and
the ordering of the buckle and the anchors points), and I couldn't get
the end through the slot in the plate that bolts to the floor. I
started
by tearing apart the new unit I bought that went on the driver's side,
since I didn't need that one. I discovered that I could indeed get the
spring part off, but I had two problems. First, I wasn't completely
confident that I hadn't weakened the part in the course of prying it
off. Second, adapting it mechanically was going to be a lot harder than
I had hoped.
Fooling around with the new unit and the broken unit led to the answer.
By fully extending the belt on the old unit, I was able to pull the end
of the belt up out of the slot in the spool and remove a plastic rod
that locks it into place. Then, I could pull the belt through the spool
and off of the old unit. It was already through the slot in the metal
floor plate, but I could have easily threaded it through there now if
needed. Then, I did the same thing on the new unit, holding the tension
on the spool once I removed the new (incorrect) seat belt. Then it was
a
simple matter of threading the old seat belt through the slot in the
spool, inserting the plastic rod, slotting it back into the spool where
it locked into place, and letting the spring retract the belt. The
retractor then got bolted to the floor plate, the floor plate got
bolted
to the floor, and the other end of the seat belt got bolted to the
bulkhead. It works like a champ.
This new unit looks way better made than the one I replaced, so I
believe it will last a long time. As with many of these projects, what
took hours to puzzle out only took about 10 minutes to execute, once
the
solution was understood. Here's what I learned from this exercise:
1. Don't try to fix the old unit.
2. Replace the entire retraction mechanism, not just the part with the
spring in it.
3. Seat belts are easy to swap between retractors once you understand
how they are attached to the spool, which also lets you thread them
through the slot in the floor plate.
4. Be ready to attach the old belt to the new retractor once the new
belt is removed, and don't let off of the spring tension in the
retractor between those two operations.
Maybe this is obvious to everyone else, but it wasn't obvious to me. I
hope this description helps someone else who has the same problem.
Best Regards,
Sean Keane
_______________________________________________
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list. They also grant the list owner permission to maintain an archive
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References
1. mailto:sjcarguy60 at yahoo.com
2. mailto:jskeane6 at gmail.com
3. mailto:DeTomaso at server.detomasolist.com
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