Restoring Rusty

[Gregski]

WARNING

NEVER attach, anchor, or secure more than one mounting end of a seatbelt with a single mounting bolt or eyebolt... [ahem] unless you are GM, than go right ahead!

[Gregski]

old (two point) and new (three point) passenger side seat belts comparacised...

[Gregski]

man these belts are nice, the LMC Truck catalog said you would need to use your old hardware, but dang they came with grade 8 hardware, even the shoulder bracket came with a bolt in case your 1973-74 truck did not have three point seat belts, like mine... nice... (or is it)...

[Gregski]

things were going well till my wife came home (from work) ~ LOL ~ you know like when the guy blames his wife for walking in the living room for his favorite football
team missing the extra point (in the dome for crying out loud)

anyway, it was time for some problems

first you would think that if we buy our seat belt set from LMC Truck that said seat belt set would bolt right up / fit our truck!!!

but no, the shoulder bracket bolt is too small and the threads are fine instead of coarse (not exactly sure what threads it has, but it don't matter, we had to toss it) luckily being forward thinking we got two stock bolts off of a 1975+ truck the last time we freaquented our favorite junk yard

worth mentioning is that my 1974 truck came with the holes for the shoulder belts, just didn't have the factory shoulder belts installed yet, did I mention I love this truck!

[Gregski]

ok, yipee skippy Greg, so the shoulder bracket bolts were the wrong kind, big deal, so what, move on man, how did the rest of the install go

well, more problems, first the specific exactly precise truck belt set which LMC Truck claims is for our trucks, had problems with the bottom brackets too, the stock bolts they insist we use are too large for the holes in the brackets, and I did not want to weaken the brackets by enlarging the holes, these are safety seat belts for crying out loud, I think you will agree

pic is upside down for demonstration purposes only, see how the stock bolt won't go all the way through that hole

[Gregski]

so I turned on the other half of my brain and decided to figure out this dilemma

I would utilize the 90* brackets they provided me and bolt them to the floor using the stock bolt and then mount the seat belt to this bracket using one of the new grade 8 bolts

problem = solution

I believe that could work, the seat belt don't bind, it retracts real well

[franken]

None of my business, but I wouldn't do it that way. We/I try not to buy from LMC but that's another story.
The longer bolts in my small mind add leverage at the pivot point, which increases the likelihood the bolt will break in a wreck.
More clever people will chime in, but I'd get SAE washers from napa in the meantime.
The bolt in the pic looks like a floor bolt. Not sure ir they're the same.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by franken

None of my business, but I wouldn't do it that way. We/I try not to buy from LMC but that's another story.
The longer bolts in my small mind add leverage at the pivot point, which increases the likelihood the bolt will break in a wreck.
More clever people will chime in, but I'd get SAE washers from napa in the meantime.
The bolt in the pic looks like a floor bolt. Not sure ir they're the same.

which part are you referring to?

[daddyjeep]

Originally Posted by franken

None of my business, but I wouldn't do it that way. We/I try not to buy from LMC but that's another story.
The longer bolts in my small mind add leverage at the pivot point, which increases the likelihood the bolt will break in a wreck.
More clever people will chime in, but I'd get SAE washers from napa in the meantime.
The bolt in the pic looks like a floor bolt. Not sure ir they're the same.

Are you referring to the bolt on the B pillar? Is it longer to accommodate trim? I know the ones on my Jeep are long like that so they extend through the roll bar padding.

[Gregski]

with the passenger aka "wife" side done it was time to move on to the middle aka the "girlfriend" seat belt

here they are old and new for comparison, both are simple two point lap belts only

[Gregski]

of note are the differences in length between the side belts and the middle belt, here they are for comparison, the middle belt female buckle section is longer than the side ones

[Gregski]

since No One asked I decided to share pics of the factory bolt holes on my 1974 for the shoulder belt brackets, not sure how my green truck turned out yellow in these pics, ha ha. I just used a small flat screw driver to pry these little round plastic blanks out to expose the rusty holes which are threaded and ready to go

[Gregski]

and a bad pic of the final product, it was late, it was dark, it was cold... sorry best I could do for now

it's done, I like it, I'm happy, scratch another item off the list!

[Matt Man]

I got the same seat belts, had the same problem with the bolt. I like the quality, only negative about them is you have to pull them really slowly or else they will lock up.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by Matt Man

I got the same seat belts, had the same problem with the bolt. I like the quality, only negative about them is you have to pull them really slowly or else they will lock up.

Thanks for the feedback Matt, do you think Brothers and or Classic Parts sell the exact same type? And did you get the middle one too? If so how did you mount it?

[Matt Man]

I think I mounted it under where the passenger belt bolts in. Not a huge deal for me since I rarely have more than 2 people in my truck.

Heres a picture:

[Gregski]

another day
another part
some say it's junk
I say it's art

[68Timber]

Good to see they got some in stock.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by BRUISER

Good to see they got some in stock.

Actually John they only had the passenger side in stock, they were out of the driver side. I wanted to get both. Summit has both sides but they are $10 bucks more each.

[Gregski]

Wow installing the new replacement window regulator is a bear! Which roller wheels of the three do you put in first? Any tips / advice greatly appreciated.

[hawkeyegold]

just found this gem of a thread... can't put it down!!

[68Timber]

I had the luxury of putting mine in with the vents out. I put the one roller in its track in the door then loosely bolted it in, ran the regulator all the way up out of the door and attached the glass. If you're going to leave the vents in, I think it was Old rusty C10 that posted recently that you can loosen the bottom of the tracks in the door and replace the glass without removing the vent assembly. I don't know if that works but I get to try it soon myself. I bent a regulator and get to replace it. The fun never ends.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by BRUISER

I had the luxury of putting mine in with the vents out. I put the one roller in its track in the door then loosely bolted it in, ran the regulator all the way up out of the door and attached the glass.

Yup, that's what worked for me too, can't get the window low enuff in the door to slip the second roller in the track cause there is a metal bracket holding the outter door skin to the inside skin, so the only way is to roll the regulator all the way up so the rollers stick out about an inch over the top of the door and slip the glass on the rollers that way.

[Gregski]

Ok, so finally did you get it done? well sort of, almost, about 99%

you see now my stock, original door crank won't go all the way on the aftermarket regulator, no I did not strip anything, no I did not butcher it, it goes on fine on my old regulators, yes both of them, both old cranks slide right on both old regulators, but neither one goes on this new replacement one, I wonder if they are rebuilt items or brand new ones, donno

so to quote an astute colleague of ours, John:

Originally Posted by BRUISER

...The fun never ends.

I think I am going to buy a brand new replacement crank, who knows maybe if I'm lucky Dorman sells them, ha ha!!!

[68Timber]

Originally Posted by Gregski

Ok, so finally did you get it done? well sort of, almost, about 99%

you see now my stock, original door crank won't go all the way on the aftermarket regulator, no I did not strip anything, no I did not butcher it, it goes on fine on my old regulators, yes both of them, both old cranks slide right on both old regulators, but neither one goes on this new replacement one, I wonder if they are rebuilt items or brand new ones, donno

so to quote an astute colleague of ours, John:



I think I am going to buy a brand new replacement crank, who knows maybe if I'm lucky Dorman sells them, ha ha!!!

Man I forgot about that part. I was able to get AC Delco regulators from Rock Auto because my truck is an 85 model and they have different regulators. But even so, I still had to get out the grinder - the original window crank would not seat far enough to get the clip on.