Repair those Saggy Seat Belts
- Thank to Kruso
Ok so I finally got bored enough and annoyed of slamming the door on the belt that I decided to replace them. In the past few years I have searched for this problems/resolution on SF periodically but never came up with any resolution besides replacing them with a new unit. So I figured I have nothing to lose, I was going to replace them regardless. I took it apart and the mechanism is very simple and straight forward but damn near bullet proof as far as being serviceable. Weighing my options I finally came up with plan of attack and very carefully followed through with it, below is a comprehensive write up on how to fix your sagging seatbelts. Note: Do NOT attempt this if you're not good with your hands, I am in no way responsible for anything as this is simply meant to help fellow SF members.
First picture is of the belt mechanism have been removed out of the Poopra.
This picture is VERY important and it is recommended that you take a good picture of this. Notice the angle that the pic is taken at allowing the internal spring tension to be visible. You are going to compare this to the "fixed" mechanism and verify that the spring is tensioned more then when you started otherwise its a guess and check game and you will fuber up the whole thing trying to mess with it multiple times as the plastic is very brittle and understandably old.
This picture is of the spring mechanism having been takin apart from the belt assembly (you will have to carefully push out small white plastic cylindrical pieces making sure you dont loose any as they'll be needed to fasten the mechanism back). Attention: As soon as you seperate the two pieces the spring is going to release all the tension by spinning free.
Now you have to wind the spring back in place beyond where it was before you took it apart (this is where the picture will come in handy to compare the final product).
This is the key to the whole thing, it might seem unconventional but I was not able to figure any other way around it. If anyone else does, please share. I simply took a safety pin and carefully pushed it into the small lip on the yellow plastic piece all the way through and into the black wheel that spins inside the unit which is also attatched to the spring to keep it in on position after having been tensioned. Below is the picture of what the spring assembly should looked like all loaded. Hint: Push the safety pin in before you tension the spring otherwise it will be a waste of time as it will release in the process and you'll have to start from the begining, also the pushing of the pin in is a PITA.
Now mount the spring assembly back onto the belt assembly (dont forget to stick the white plastic cylindrical pieces back into their place) and this is what you should be left with. Now simply to tension the belt back up, yank/ pull the pin keeping the spring in place.
And you're done.
Also I know this happens ALOT and no one has answered this problem before (to my knowledge). If you have a problem where your belt only tensions backup when you press the release button for belt, (obviously defeating the purpose of the belt) all you have to do is simply disconnect the ONLY wire connection going to the seat belts. I haven't tinkered deeper then that to find out what exactly is malfunctioning but doing that at least renders the belt usable.
