Replacement Seat Belts

88towmanche · December 9, 2019

The retracting mechanism on the driver side belt gave up the ghost this weekend.

Not overly concerned with maintaining OEM parts (don't really want to use 30 yr old junkyard belts)

Anyone recommend an after market set of belts? Did the search thing, looks like aftermarket XJ belts are available from places like quadratec but nothing for MJ.

Think the XJ belts mounts the retractor on the floor and the MJ mounts about halfway of the b-pillar - this sound right? No problem modding if needed, but would those even work or be too long?

Universal belt ok wit me if people have had success with a certain brand or something - just not sure where to start.

AZJeff · December 9, 2019

I got replacements from "Seat Belts Plus" , but they were not perfect. Very good construction, but they have a small flaw:

Because the MJ retractor is mounted higher up than the XJ, the end of the belt when it's fully retracted (stowed), the belt flopped around enough to fall out the door.

I needed to shorten the belt to get rid of the excess slack. To do this, I ended up cutting off some of the belt and having someone resew the end where the belt attaches to the metal cleat that bolts to the inside of the rocker panel adjacent to the seat. I think I wound up taking off about 12 inches. I cut the belt and heat sealed the end of the webbing, and then took the metal cleat with the cut-off webbing to get it sewn.

A regular seamstress wouldn't touch my request, since her sewing machine wasn't strong enough to run the heavy thread through the three layers of webbing to match the original factory stitching method. I wound up going to a saddle shop, and told the guy to fold/stitch the webbing exactly like it was done with the factory pattern. He had no problem doing so, because he had a sewing machine that would stitch through up to TWO INCHES of leather :L:

The end result it about as close as you can get to OEM belts. (Actually, they are better, since the inboard end of the belt uses one of those stiff plastic coated cables instead of a flat type stiffener.)

Andy in Pa · December 9, 2019

I know up until a 96 XJ you definitely can. The seat belt mounts are identical. I used the seat belt and retracting assembly out of my 96 XJ in my 89 MJ and it bolted right up and works fine. The latches were different though so I used the female end as well. If you grab them out of a wreck, just grab the mating ends as well.

yxmj · December 9, 2019

I do not know if this is an avenue fore you but did you look at 2 door XJ belts?

I seem to remember having to fix a 2 door belt and it was different than the 4 door.....It mounted up higher so that you could get into the back seat by leaning the seat forward...Might be worth looking into?

:dunno:

AZJeff · December 10, 2019

Depending on the environment where the donor vehicle resided, it may be questionable to use junkyard seatbelts.

Fo example, a belt from a vehicle here in AZ where the belt has had sun beating on it steadily for years with the window down or door open/missing would probably have belt webbing quite sun-weakened.

Andy in Pa · December 11, 2019

On 12/9/2019 at 5:51 PM, yxmj said:

I do not know if this is an avenue fore you but did you look at 2 door XJ belts?

I seem to remember having to fix a 2 door belt and it was different than the 4 door.....It mounted up higher so that you could get into the back seat by leaning the seat forward...Might be worth looking into?

You are correct, my XJ is a two door, and they mount in the identical places. Good call on that one. :L:

88towmanche · December 13, 2019

The seat belt on the retractor side is 104" from retractor bolt hole to end of the belt.

Most of the 3 point retracting seat belts available new online that have dimensions posted run closer to 140" - that makes them about 3 feet longer than an OEM Comanche belt.

Some places will sell custom lengths and some have stock units that are 110" which would probably work just fine.

For now, ordered a cheap "universal" 3 point retracting belt off of Amazon - no dimensions posted, suspect it is going to be around 124" based on reviews, should receive today.

Need to get one on hand to see if any mounting issues an if there is interference with the b pillar trim - if mounts up ok, then will determine if length is an issue

Jeep Driver · December 13, 2019

https://www.safetyrestore.com/about-us

knever3 · December 15, 2019

https://teamtechmotorsports.com/

This is a racing company in Michigan my friend took his seat belts there and they did a phenomenal job for his Cutlass.

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

88towmanche · December 16, 2019

Ok, got the Chinese import seat belt off of Amazon for $49 shipped.

Measured it out of the box, overall length on the retracting end was 125" (Factory belt was 105") - difference in length not an issue.

The short end of the belt that threads through the seat was really short - like 2-3" shorter than factory - but it does work.

The seat belt comes with NO hardware or instructions at all - re-used all of the factory mounting bolts - good luck finding any of these at the hardware store they are 7/16 fine thread pan head torx shoulder bolts - and all four of them are different lengths.

The mounting points on the new seat belt were too small to accept the factory bolts so I used a Unibit to enlarge the holes.

The retracting bracket would not mount as it is - had to make a simple adapter for make it work - used an old T-strap I had lying around (less than $1 at the hardware store) - cut it down and drilled holes adding about 2" of reach - used a single 3/8" x 1" grade 5 hex bolt with some nuts and washers to attached the adapter - the truck came factory with a shield that sits inboard of the retractor - wanted to re use that so had to stand the adapter off about 3/4" so it would sit without interference (can see how the adapter is off set in pics)

Unit is in and works great -