Seatbelt Style Breakdown (by Year)

[thefraze_1020]

The title says it all. Which years had each style of seatbelt? I know of the early years having the curved top buckles with no shoulder belt, then the plastic buckles with shoulder belts, and finally the metal buckles. Which year was which?

[71blksuper4x4]

I believe 73-75 is the early style fatter plastic buckle, like the 68-72 style has. The 76 to 80 is the skinny plastic buckle and 81-91 is the metal buckle. I believe.
73-75 shoulder belts were an option much like 67-72.
76- shoulder belts became mandatory.
Trevor

[thefraze_1020]

I've seen the skinny plastic buckles in as new as an '83. But my '84 has the metal buckles.

[ray_mcavoy]

The retractor setup in pickup trucks changed sometime around 1978 as well.

1976 & 77 have the retractor reels for the shoulder belts bolted to the door latch pillar (where they interfere with cab corner speaker brackets). The retractor reels for the lap belts are in separate housings bolted to the floor at the rear corners of the seat. I assume 1973 - 75 with the optional shoulder belts used a setup similar to this as well.

Starting around 1978, the retractor reels for both the lap & shoulder belts are combined together in the same housing and bolted to the floor at the rear corners of the seat. From what I have seen in comparing various cabs, it looks like the anchor points in the floor were re-positioned a little bit to accommodate this change in the seat belt design.