Seat belt recoil preload setup

[timski69gmc]

I dyed my seat belts recently and they turned out pretty good.
My problem is I can't get the spring to load up.
Not sure if it's binding somewhere.
In the seat belt restoration thread, it said to turn the screw about 6 clicks. But that doesn't seem to load it at all.
Any tips or tricks?

[jocko]

Is the little hook on the spring properly seated in the plastic cylinder? I kept breaking the cylinder, tried several donor cylinders and they were so worn out they practically fell apart just by picking them up. I ended up sending the parts to Ssnaykoyl - a (mustang!) seat belt shop. They rebuilt the whole shooting match and it was not expensive. I only mention this if you reach your wits end on this - because I did, I bought about 4 retractor seat belt assemblies and they all had very fragile plastic sleeves/cylinders for retaining the spring that they broke in reassembly. Hated to do it, but punted to a professional just because I was running out of parts. If your spring is properly retained on both ends, the preload should work properly - may take more than 6 turns though. Also keep in mind which position is wound and which is unwound (it gets confusing with the belt off the cylinder initially).

[timski69gmc]

That's what I find is weird.
I actually slid a socket inside the plastic sleeve to give it some support, as I heard they can crack. Ended up putting some grease on the belt, and pushed the clip on with some channel lock plyers. Went slow, but the clip seemed to go on well.
The tabs on the spring were in place, and I started with I think 5 clicks of the screw. I kept trying on click at a time, trying to find the right tension. There was a slight recoil to around 7 or 8, but it still wouldn't pull the belt back. Then about 10-11, I heard a click, and nothing. Pulled it back apart, and the tab on the spring broke. Ended up taking some needle nose, and bending a new tab up. It's not great, so I wondered if that was the problem. But it never tensioned up right before that.
Seems like it would be a pretty simple procedure, but I must be missing something.

[Sandemonium]

Has any one come up with the correct procedure to set up a seat belt retractor?

Based on what I have read you wind the belt around the cylinder insert the spring assembly into the cylinder, insert the belt & cylinder onto the bracket, insert the screw through the bracket and cylinder and turn clockwise 6 clicks, pull belt out and see if it retracts.

That's what I gathered from my readings.

Does that sound correct?

[70STOVEBOLT]

I have a thread saved on my work computer that explains it with pics. If I can remember I will post it tomorrow.