Seat belt retractors stuck on 97 T100

[cweiserla]

The shoulder belt retractors on the driver and passenger sides of my 97 T100 SR5 (2WD) are stuck. The belt won't extend when you tug on it and I can't wear my seat belt when driving.
I don't need a ticket for driving with no seat belt.
I removed the driver side retractor and I didn't see anything visibly wrong. It worked for a little while when I reinstalled it but shortly after it quit again.

Anybody know where I can get two seat belt retractors for a decent price? I can imagine what the dealer wants for them.

I can get it to extend by gently tugging on it and playing with it but it takes a long time and the belt is real tight across my chest.

Thanx all.

[cweiserla]

I was also wondering if the dealer would fix this N/C because it is a sefety feature of the vehicle.

[rAdiOwaT100]

Originally Posted by cweiserla

The shoulder belt retractors on the driver and passenger sides of my 97 T100 SR5 (2WD) are stuck. The belt won't extend when you tug on it and I can't wear my seat belt when driving.
I don't need a ticket for driving with no seat belt.
I removed the driver side retractor and I didn't see anything visibly wrong. It worked for a little while when I reinstalled it but shortly after it quit again.

Anybody know where I can get two seat belt retractors for a decent price? I can imagine what the dealer wants for them.

I can get it to extend by gently tugging on it and playing with it but it takes a long time and the belt is real tight across my chest.

Thanx all.

Have same problem!!
You should try this link http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/minutemods/seatbelt/
i haven't done yet but it looks it would work.

[wonton2]

Hey guys. I actually went in and did the fix mentioned above to tighten the spring. It did not work for me, and led to even more problems. Beware.

There's a lot of tension in that spring, and as I was carefully winding the spool I accidentally slipped and within a nano-second it lost tension and unwound entirely. Had it been a simple matter of rewinding the spool it would have been OK. Instead, it was a catastrophe.

The spring pops out of the slot on the small plastic piece in the center with which you rewind the spool. It's barely stuck in there for some reason. All of the sudden you realize that there is no way to access the dislodged spring to reinsert it into the slot of the center piece so you can rewind the spool. I'll continue to tell the tale only to help anyone who goes to the dark side and needs to know the way back without spending $162 for a new assembly.

To get the spring back into the slot, you have to open the "DO NOT OPEN THIS" cover on the spring cover. Pop the plastic spring case off of the seatbelt assembly to access the cover underneath. Wear safety glasses and keep a thumb on the spring to ensure it doesn't pop out of the case. Super-glue the spring and reinsert it into the slot on the center piece so this can never happen again. Use a screwdriver to push the center piece back to the center as you use your other hand to maneuver the cover back on.

Get some twisty-ties to tie it back to the metal through the holes where it had previously attached because now that this "DO NOT REMOVE" part is off, it doesn't want to reattach easily, the pegs break or become weak, and you don't want it popping off or else more fun happens and the spring could shoot out and cause you 30 minutes of hand-cramping and suffering to get it back in. I speak from fresh experience.

Once it's reattached, wind the spool toward you, then slip a piece of kite string through the small hole on the belt spool and tie it off so it can't slip while you reattach the belt end-loop through the center of the spool. The easiest way to do this is to jam the belt through the small slit at an angle and grab it with needle-nose pliers to yank it through the other side. Replace the plastic piece which keeps it from going back through and untie the string. Let the mechanism retract and you're done.

[Chuckaz]

Just yesterday, I managed to repair my retractor, utilizing both the link mentioned and the fix referred to above. In doing so, I came across a couple of things that might help. 1)If you do release the spring and have to remove the cover to reattach, consider drilling out the holes and attaching short bolts and nuts. 2) Using two (2) screwdrivers to rewind the spool allows more control, to avoid losing what you have accomplished before reattaching the belt. 3) Be sure to clean the slider through which the belt runs (near the hold down bolt on the post), Mine was gummed up and may have been the prime culprit behind the loss of take-up tension. Thanks for the help.