How hard is it to replace seatbelt?

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Jennifer Smith - 05 Jul 2007 23:32 GMT

I have a 1993 Explorer Sport and I need to take the old seatbelt and replace
it. The stitching rotted out from where it attaches to the bracket in the
floorboard. I found the bolt that holds the bracket in to the floorboard
and saw that I need a set of Torx drivers to take it and the bracket where
the seatbelt goes thru up near the roof. Are there going to be any problems
I will run into while taking the seatbelt out? I plan on a nice used one
from a junkyard in, and figured I would take mine out first, so that I know
what I am doing when I get to the junkyard (I will be removing the
replacement from a junker myself). Thanks in advance...

Jarrod

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Bob - 06 Jul 2007 01:33 GMT

> I have a 1993 Explorer Sport and I need to take the old seatbelt and replace
> it. The stitching rotted out from where it attaches to the bracket in the
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
>
> Jarrod

I just replaced the seatbelt on my '94 with a new aftermarket one I
found for $50. It took about 2 hours to remove and replace including
time it took to cut a hole in the plastic trim because the rewind
mechanism is a little thicker than the original. Works great. I'd favor
a new one over a junkyard one for safety.

It's pretty straightforward to replace, you'll have to remove the seat
which is easy - 4 easily accessible bolts. Use the new bolts and washers
that come with the replacement belt.

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Ulysses - 11 Jul 2007 19:36 GMT

> I have a 1993 Explorer Sport and I need to take the old seatbelt and replace
> it. The stitching rotted out from where it attaches to the bracket in the
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
>
> Jarrod

If I recall correctly you also need the Torx bit just to remove the plastic
insert that covers the bolts. I found mine to be torqued down very tightly
and needed a breaker bar to loosen them.

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Jennifer Smith - 20 Jul 2007 05:00 GMT

>> I have a 1993 Explorer Sport and I need to take the old seatbelt and
> replace
[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]
> tightly
> and needed a breaker bar to loosen them.

Just a quick update on this. I got a garage to take the bolt out from the
floorboard (rather than scrape any more knuckles). I took the entire
seatbelt to an upholstery repair shop that has a heavy duty (industrial)
sewing machine. Got the seatbelt sewn good as new for $5 and reinstalled it
that night. I decided against going with a belt out of a junker since I had
so much trouble trying to get the bolt out of the floorboard on mine. Also
decided against an aftermarket belt due to previous post regarding different
size and having to modify the trim.

Jarrod

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Bob - 22 Jul 2007 23:11 GMT

>>> I have a 1993 Explorer Sport and I need to take the old seatbelt and
>> replace
[quoted text clipped - 29 lines]
>
> Jarrod

Glad you found an inexpensive fix. The problem with mine was the
retractor mechanism was inop. So I had to replace with a whole new belt.
I didn't have any trouble with any of the bolts, they were tight but a
3/8 drive rachet easily unbolted them. I'm thinking it would be a good
idea to recheck the torque on the replacment's bolts in a few weeks (but
I'll forget...)

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