Seat belt retractor issues

StG58

TJ Guru
Original poster
Supporting Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2015
Messages
7,778
Location
On the road.
It appears that my passenger side seat belt retractor has eaten enough mother nature that it stopped working correctly.

Half way through a nine day back woods road trip it started to not release the seat belt so you could pull enough out to buckle up. Fiddled with it and got enough out to buckle, but now it won't lock. Comes out easily, just not locking. I'm betting there's enough crud in the mechanism to farm wheat.

Time to take it out and tear it apart. If you have any tips, let me know...
 
Keep in mind that our seat belts will NOT lock up by just jerking on the seat belt, no matter how slowly or how fast you pull on it. They lock up only when the little steel ball rolls out of its cup which locks the mechanism. That only happens during an impact or when your Jeep is on a slope.

Seatbelt-locking-mechanismE.jpg
 
Keep in mind that our seat belts will NOT lock up by just jerking on the seat belt, no matter how slowly or how fast you pull on it. They lock up only when the little steel ball rolls out of its cup which locks the mechanism. That only happens during an impact or when your Jeep is on a slope.

View attachment 114346
Thanks Jerry! That's a good tip and something I'd forgotten about.