Seat Belts for Task Force

[thumper56]

My 56 1/2 ton is almost finished inside and out. Working on interior and want to put in some seat belts.

1) If I just go with lap belts, where would be the suggested area to bolt to floor?

2) If I go with shoulder harness (preferred), any ideas of where to attach the shoulder bracket without having to tear cab back apart? Of course want a strong installation.

Wish I thought of this when cab back was off- could have welded in some support!@#$%!

Truck is a small window with gas tank still in cab.

Thanks!

[_Ogre]

for lap belts use the seat channel and weld a net to a piece of 10ga steel that is big enough not to tear thru the floor
while my lap belt is attached to my seat pedestals, my seats are fastened in this way

mine is big window and i chose not to use a shoulder belt, but it should be done in the same method
weld the plate to the back of your cab or cut a slot to stick it behind the metal and plug weld it

[Rude Dude]

Here is a site that carries various belts
https://www.seatbeltplanet.com/

[RockinKees]

I also was busy putting in shoulderbelts.

I had made 1/4 steel plates, 5 inch long. I made M6 threads in the plates and welded a 7/16- 20 nut in the middle of the plate to bolts the shoulder belt onto. With the two M6 bolts I bolted the plate behind the sheetmetal.
The 7/16 bolt of the belt also bolts right through the cab sheetmetal.

I didn't make pics of the plate, but I have a sketch:





Mounted in the cab, behind the cabs sheetmetal it looks like this:



I took the holes over on the inside of the cab, drilled the holes and took a TIG weldingwire to pull the plate up, behind the sheetmetal. You can reach that via the cabcorner at the B-pillar.
The M6 bolts are replaces by normal ones, ofcourse
The big one holds the shoulderbelt.
I have placed it in the middle of the sidewindow (height), thats where everybody place them....

I haven't made the floormounts yet.
Hope you understand a bit of what I'm trying to show you....

[1952]

love the sketching paper used RockinKees

[RockinKees]

Originally Posted by 1952

love the sketching paper used RockinKees

Haha, I have much more!
If you want some.....

[Rickysnickers]

I'm saving up to buy some '99-'06 Silverado (or similar model) seats, if I can find some in decent shape too. They had the shoulder belts built into the seats themselves. If you don't already have seats, that might be worth a look.

[BBPanel]

More discussion here if you haven't seen it:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=678817

[dsraven]

I like the idea of the seatbelts inside the seat rather than attached to a part of the cab that is not really made to be a structural mount for seatbelts. the belt in the seat idea puts all the stress on the seat, which was already engineered to do that, and also the truck floor, which was originally made only to attach the seat so may need a little help. that said I would trust the floor way more than sheet metal of the cab walls, especially on the big window models where sheet metal in those areas is already sparse. I would use the seats with the belts inside and also reinforce the floor with some sort of plate between the fasteners on the under side and then use a strap/cable to attach the seat mounting bolts to the actual frame of the truck. that way, if there was a crash, the seat will hold you and your loved ones inside the truck. even if the floor tears the strap to the frame will keep everything from leaving the area. the strap would be fastened under the floor using the same bolts as the ones that mount the seats so it is all one unit. think about all the time and thought spent on other stuff on the project and then think about the fact that these old cars and trucks don't have air bags or built in crumple zones or ABS brakes etc to protect us like a newer vehicles do. they are way heavier gage steel, sure, but we have to do our best to protect ourselves from that point on. also, we usually don't drive around by ourselves so think about the other people in the cab that trust we have done things right and safely.

[Apachekid58]

I have 3-Point belts in my 58. They were a ***** to put in though. We peeled back the strip of metal at the bottom of the inner cab panel and then ran my hand up in between the cab to get a big washer behind the inner piece. For all the trouble I would rather run lap belts.

[bowt1ed]

Does anyone know of a GM bench seat that has the belts built in, other than the third row seats from Yukon, Suburban, etc.? Thanks, Jim

[Valarius_Starchaser]

I just looked through my catalog and found no GM front bench seat within the last 25 years that has only a lap belt all have a shoulder and lap belt where the main bolt is located on the B pillar

I imagine an older style lap belt could be retrofitted however as mounting appears to be on the seat frame

I tried to upload some of my catalog images BUT they were 25kb to large to throw up

[Dan in Pasadena]

Send a PM to OrrieG. He undoubtedly researched that before using the 3rd tow Tahoe seat.

Just curious: Any particular reason you DONT want to use one of those?

[OrrieG]

My assumption was GM engineered the seat, belts and transfer of forces to the floor mounts. Knowing the floor bolt sizes it was easy to look up the physical properties and compare to bolt sizes for stock 59 seat mounts. Checked that box off and fabbed the frame to transfer from seat to stock floor mounts. If I am in a crash bad enough to shear the seat or floor mounts I will have a lot bigger issues to deal with. In my life I have had five opportunities to die, two car related (head on collision and roll over), two motorcycle related and one involving a knife attack; I figure if fate wanted me she had her opportunity and someone else must have a plan.

[Tire Guy]

I did a 3 point and really like them. They were not that hard to install. Here are some pics.

[bowt1ed]

Originally Posted by Dan in Pasadena

Send a PM to OrrieG. He undoubtedly researched that before using the 3rd tow Tahoe seat.

Just curious: Any particular reason you DONT want to use one of those?

Dan, sorry - just saw this. I'm just looking for a bench seat that looks more like the stock one, but preferably with built in shoulder belts on the outsides, lap only in middle, maybe even with middle section that drops for arm rest. I want to keep it looking more stock than the divided look of the third rows.

Cheers, Jim