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Adding 3 point belts?

gr8dain

gr8dain

Old and Slow
BENEFACTOR
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Ashburn
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VA
How easy is it to add three point seat belts? I am looking at an 82 that looks to only have the lap belt. What year started the three point belts?

Also, would I have to move the mounting point from the roll bar to the hard top and back when I take the top on and off? Can you even add the mounting point to the top if it does not have one to begin with? Thanks a lot. I am trying to weigh my options.

I would also be adding a rear bench in the future if I bought this scrambler. Too bad I gave away the spare TJ rear seat that I had in the garage this past year. What seats work best in the bed of a scrambler?

Thanks a lot,

Dain
 
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Dain

I am wondering the same thing, so hopefully folks will chime in....:popcorn:

I want the shoulder belt too (mine is an '81 and didn't come with them) for safety reasons, and also to keep the cops from pulling me over. Since it didn't come with them, I don't have to legally have them installed....but trying to explain this to some cops would be tough.
 
Dang it. I guess i forgot about the magic of the search. :banghead: I even just used it yesterday. I will do a search tonight and post up anything I find. Maybe I was just too deep in thought staring at the pics of the Scrambler I am contemplating.

Dain
 
Well, so far I have found very little on upgrading the seatbelts. All I found worth anything so far was a post about having to replace the rollbar so that you would have the nutserts to mount the top point. Still searching though.
 
I searched too, and perhaps didn't use the correct words for the search inquiry....but I found nothing on my end.

Anyone? More than anything, can someone explain how the factory shoulder belts worked? I know they attach to the rollbar. But how does the transition occur through the top? And what if you remove the half top?

I can easily weld in some nut inserts into my existing rollbar. I just don't know how it all fits together. Anyone have any close-up photos of the factory setup?

Thanks-
 
The best advice I have heard is to drill holes through the existing rollbar, weld in sleeves, and use through bolts for the the top mount. I don't know if this method is any better or worse than holes and nutcerts but it works.

I need to get some three point belts put into my '82 as well and the less welding I have to do the better.
 
The discussions go something basically like this:

1981 and most 1982 models had lap belts only. In 1983 and later models there is a "nutsert" in the roll bar with threads in it. The seat belt bolt goes into the threaded nutsert. There is a rubber bushing between the roll bar and the half hardtop. You never attach a seat belt directly to the hard top, you drill a hole in the hard top and attach to the roll bar. You seal the hole with a piece of rubber.

To retrofit the nutsert several options have been tried.

You could simply drill a hole in the roll bar and thread it for the bolt. THIS IS UNSAFE, IN AN ACCIDENT THE BOLT WILL PULL RIGHT OUT OF THE ROLL BAR!

You could drill completely through the roll bar and insert a long bolt with a nut to hold the seat belt. Problem with this idea is that as you tighten the bolt, you run the potential of crushing the roll bar.

You could drill completely through the roll bar and insert a metal sleeve and run the bolt through the sleeve. The idea here is that the sleeve will prevent the roll bar from being crushed when you tighten the nut.

You could drill a hole only in the front of the roll bar and weld a round steel bar into the hole of sufficient diameter to allow you to drill a hole in the steel bar and thread it.

Best option, you drill a hole in the front and back of the roll bar, insert a round steel bar, weld it front and back, drill and thread a hole in the bar, and attached the seat belt bolt there.

You always need to ensure the bolt is a quality grade 8 bolt.

You can no longer buy the original factory rubber things, so you have to improvise. Everything from hockey pucks to shock absorber mounts have been used.
 
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Good stuff Crawler, thanks!

Anyone have a pic of the 'factory version' so I can try to copy it?
 
Thank you RustyCrawler. That was great info.

Dain
 
How about this option: Swap out the rollbar for a YJ (preferably from a 92-95 so I could get the three point going for the rear seat as well)?

Dain
 
rustycrawler said:
I'd buy a tape measure first.
Click to expand...


Definitely. I was just thinking about it after I looked and saw a number of craigslist ads for rollbars and saying that they fit CJs and YJs. I was hoping that someone had maybe made the switch. But I might end up being a pioneer. But before I do that, I will definitely be measuring the dimensions of the roll bar in my current YJ before I sell it.

Dain
 
IIRC the roll bars equipped with shoulder belts are different than those with out, and I'm not just talking the holes for the belts. They sit differently (closer) in relation to the top.
Could you convert a non-shoulder belt bar to use shoulder belts? Sure, just use one of the ways described by Rusty.

The safest and easiest way would be to purchase the correct bar.

I converted my 81 to shoulder belts by installing a Rock Hard interior cage which comes with provisions for shoulder belts. I used seatbelts from an 86 CJ-7.
 
It looks to me like the front part of the roack hard cage has a part that bolts into the factory shoulder seat belt mount for added stability i'm assuming. If you have an older stock roll cage would this not be the case or would you be drilling and welding?
 
breckwrecking said:
It looks to me like the front part of the roack hard cage has a part that bolts into the factory shoulder seat belt mount for added stability i'm assuming. If you have an older stock roll cage would this not be the case or would you be drilling and welding?
Click to expand...

Stock bars have the holes from late 82-86.

I used the hardware they supply with the cage, with the exception of shorter grade 8 bolts as mine do not extend to the factory bar. (If it wasn't raining, I'd grab a couple of pics.)
 
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