My seat belt mechanisms need some rebuilding. They appear to be complete and in good shape...except for not working.

Any advice out there? Thanks.
Dan

http://www.ssnake-oyl.com/

Thanks, Mike. I've already placed the order.

I had two very uncooperative seat belt retractors; I came across a simple fix on-line; place the entire retractor with the belt still in place into a bucket of hot-soapy water. Leave in overnight. Next day rinse; then pull the webbing out to dry. The mechanism will drain, don't worry about it rusting. Then open the end with the pawl and lightly lube. Do NOT open the end with the spring.......
My retractors work like new since.....

I have fixed several drivers side ones by cleaning them out,as long as the webbing is ok.

I had a less than satisfactory experience with ssnakeoyl. the price was absurd, but I would have lived with it if the belts worked well. when I got them back they were beautiful, but there wasn't enough tension on the belts to retract well. I argued with them for over a month and they finally agreed to refund half of my money.

overall, I think they're a small shop doing a lot of GM work for CW types. I actually wanted mine to work well.

So I contacted Snake Oyl last month about restoration for my seat belts based on the feedback I've read here and they said they couldn't do it. I have a 73 with the retractable belts. I provided pictures of every angle with the belts rolled and unrolled. Based on the positive feedback for them here I'm disappointed in their response but delighted to see this posting.

What kind of soap - dish detergent or laundry detergent?
Why not worry about rust?
Which is the end with the spring, the bigger end?

On mine, The finish on the bracket is rough. Any suggestions? Was thinking of hitting it with a dremell and polishing.

What about the chrome on the guide bracket? Where can I get these re-chromed?

Thanks in advance for the comments.

https://youtu.be/1KA_q_AMjmQ

Jim can answer better than I perhaps.

I remember we talked about this one and its on my list as well.
IIRC he said Simple Green.

The spring mech is a hardened spring steel and doesn.t rust easily.

I.m not sure about any chroming on the guide. I have a 73 and I am not aware of any chrome with exception of the spade for the latching clasp.

The small side is the spring. I just went through this. I had a damaged belt. I got one here, so my intent was to just change the web. I was holding the tension on the retractor with a screw driver. And I also took off the large side, which helped me hold the tension. It slipped, and it retracted rapidly. This dislodged the spring and it was now junk. With nothing to loose, I went in. The spring uncoiled into a rats nest. This became a challenge. I rewound the spring, and got it back together. It was a total pain, but can be done.

I had a problem with my drivers side seat belt. It would only let a couple inches each pull before locking while buckling up. I soaked both belt assemblies in a bucket of hot soapy water overnight, then ran them through the dishwasher a few times.

The "stickiness" seems to be fixed, but I'm not convinced they will have enough spring tension to retract once installed.

I've read numerous online forums on old seat belts. Severl people have added a few winds to the spring. I was planning to do this, but I'm not sure it's possible as I can't see how to get this apart without disturbing the spring (which I don't want to do). Has anyone added a few winds to the spring on these seat belts? If so, How do I go about it.

Thanks in advance.

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Woolite delicate soap detergent let soak overnight. Woolite will not fade or extract color from the material. typically will also fix retracting issues due to years of buildup!

-Nacho

Question: When soaking do you soak the mechanism too, or just the belts?

Mine could use a refresh when I put it all back together, so this would be a good time to clean them.

Soak the whole assembly, including the mechanism.

Then run them through the dishwasher a few times for final cleaning.

Finally, run them through the "heat dry" cycle (only) on the dishwasher about 6 times to dry everything out.

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