Rv refurbishment seat belts etc (1 Viewer)

[dundreamin]

Hi,
We ae refurbishing our Gulfstream by replacing seat covers, floors etc.In the course of this we have removed all the seats and seat belts. The rock and roll is easy enough to replace frayed belts with equivalent new lap belts to same mounting points but the driver and passenger seats are a complete new ball game.

When manufactured they were just lap belts but we (me) would like three point belts to replace them. My difficulty is that there is nowhere on the chassis wall to fasten the shoulder height point to. You can put the reel on the floor but need another high point and we don't think that this wall on ours is strong enough.

Has anyone solved this problem that could give us some advice.

We had considered getting somesort of harness but we don't think these are suitable either.

Any suggestion would be appreciated.

Thank you

Lynne:helpsos:

 

[Geo]

Hi Lynne
There are many out there looking for the same solution,mainly because front lap belt may not pass an MOT test on certain vehicles.
Without a B post your all but stuffed
A Racing type harness is the only real solution,short of contructing an internall B post welded through floor to chassis and supported best you can
European Motor home builders have done this on some rear dinnett seats Swift as an example
One or two have modified the seat back to take the mount
I dont belive this method is strong enough
If you use search buttons type in RV seat belts you should find all the old posts and replies
Geo

 

[Terry]

No idea on the finer points of RVs - is it possible to fix the upper part of the seat belt to the seat back ????? would think being a yank tank they would be substantial ?
well prepared to be shot down on this idea
terry

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[motor roamin]

Hi dundreamin

Be very careful when taking the seat belt mountings away from standard whilst it may pass an MOT, for insurance purposes I would have it designed by a Motor Engineer of at least Tech Eng level and make sure (unlike me) he still carries a valid insurance.

If the vehicle was manufactured with lap belts and has been MOTed (it has been many years since I did MOT's but If memory serves, and it may not there is a cut off date as to when a lap belt is sufficient) in the past then as far as I know we havn't had any retrospective legislation in recent years to say it wont pass again. If you want to change them for safety reasons then that is different.

VOSA will be able to give up to date answers.

 

[agilityeye]

our rvision is 10 years old and has lap belts but it wont pass an MOT with them, so it has harnesses fitted now, b****y useless as you cant move in your seat if your going to use them correctly.
i wondered about range rover seats (I think) the older ones had the seatbelts built into the seats.

 

[Geo]

Hi dundreamin

Be very careful when taking the seat belt mountings away from standard whilst it may pass an MOT, for insurance purposes I would have it designed by a Motor Engineer of at least Tech Eng level and make sure (unlike me) he still carries a valid insurance.

If the vehicle was manufactured with lap belts and has been MOTed (it has been many years since I did MOT's but If memory serves, and it may not there is a cut off date as to when a lap belt is sufficient) in the past then as far as I know we havn't had any retrospective legislation in recent years to say it wont pass again. If you want to change them for safety reasons then that is different.

VOSA will be able to give up to date answers.

They are almost monthly
As far a VOSA and the regs are concerned they have never been aceptable in front seats
you may remember that not being the case, but vosa have re interpreted not changed the rulesoh:

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[motor roamin]

They are almost monthly
As far a VOSA and the regs are concerned they have never been aceptable in front seats
you may remember that not being the case, but vosa have re interpreted not changed the rulesoh:

Why does that not supprise me, I must admit the last vehicle I had MOTed with lap belts was a 65 Mustang.

There are Motorhome seats available with the seatbelts attached but goodness knows what they cost.

Wish mine had those, as mine would strangle me in an accident, oh and those are legal

Thanks for the feedback Geo

All the best Rick.

 

[Terry]

No idea on the finer points of RVs - is it possible to fix the upper part of the seat belt to the seat back ????? would think being a yank tank they would be substantial ?
well prepared to be shot down on this idea
terry

Back to my original suggestion then Are RV seats suitable ? could it be done safely ?I would think that it would be quite an easy job to take the back covering off and fix / bolt through the seat framework :thumb: How many testers would know the difference ? I know it is about safety etc but the testers usually give a visual and good pull on the belt.Come to think of it my passenger seat belt bottom clip point is fastened to the seat base so that it swivels with the seat out of the way. MOT Monday so will it pass yet again :thumb:
terry

 

[Geo]

Back to my original suggestion then Are RV seats suitable ? could it be done safely ?I would think that it would be quite an easy job to take the back covering off and fix / bolt through the seat framework :thumb: How many testers would know the difference ? I know it is about safety etc but the testers usually give a visual and good pull on the belt.Come to think of it my passenger seat belt bottom clip point is fastened to the seat base so that it swivels with the seat out of the way. MOT Monday so will it pass yet again :thumb:
terry

None, its not in our mandate to test to destruction as you said a slight tug to make sure it wont pull out of the floor or its mount, (quite a few did years ago)
RVs in general also have seat belt mounts at the seat base.:thumb:
The danger is unless inspected and designed by someone who knows what there doing,I hope I do,the seat back is not suitable for mounting the top parts unless further mods are carried out also
It could be a simple task to strengthen the back by adding extra steel supports to the floor or base or simply extending the top mount with the use of another seat belt strap to the floor or seat base from the top mount, so that all stress points are returned to where the Manf intended
The important factors are that the seat back should not be relied upon un modified
Geo

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[Terry]

:thumb: That sounds simple enough then :thumb:
terry

 

[American Dream]

And there was me looking to replace my existing lap belts with new ones to match the seats....

Should I be looking at replacing them with across the shoulder ones then?

Competition approved mountings are available for welding. Are these mot legal?

Welding and mounting posts no problem.

Steve.

 

[Geo]

Recent interpretations and the production of a new seat belt checking flow chart by Vosa
makes it easy to confirm what you need BUT a number of questions need answers as you go through the chart reproduction of the flow chart is somthing im working on so I can post it on here
Year of first use
number of passenger seats
number of foward facing seats behind driver
and GVW to name just a fewoh:
If you had 9 passenger seats in a vehicle over 3500KG you dont need any seatbelts at all
Edited to remove a possible confusing statment

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