need l/s seat belt 74 charger keeps locking up

[sparcy]

drivers side seatbelt keeps jamming locked up will not pull out . had cover off cleaned it looked fine put back in, and it jammed on first pull . is there a company that makes a good replacement ? I don't care about factory appearance . thanks

 

[EccentricMagpies]

Mine acts the same way. It seems the best way to put them on is in a very slow motion fashion. Pretty annoying.

 

['68 Charger]

drivers side seatbelt keeps jamming locked up will not pull out . had cover off cleaned it looked fine put back in, and it jammed on first pull . is there a company that makes a good replacement ? I don't care about factory appearance . thanks

I have a driver's side (actually I have pass. side too) 1973 B Body seat belt retractor. It works however the casing is blue and the casing has some cracks. So you have to switch out the casings. I can make a YT video on the mechanism of it's operation and share it with you.

 

[Lazerwolf]

I had this same problem with my 74 Charger. I checked into a company called Sharon's Web that restores them.
http://www.sharonswebinc.com/index.html
I took a different approach and used zip ties to hold the retractor lock back. It prevents the seat belt from locking but at least I can use them. I think I read somewhere on here this locking issue was unique to the 74 but could be wrong.

 

[Nacho-RT74]

Same problem here!

 

['68 Charger]

What mine does is: when you pull out the strap it will go forward w/o stopping unless you stop the motion. If so you have to reset it back all the way retracted. But as long as you pull it forward in one motion you're good to go. So it's best to take the strap with one sweeping motion and pull it all the way out and then you back track it to the adjusted position. Now on the return, if you snap release it, it will retrieve all the way back into the retractor and ready for it to pull forward again. If you slow release it, it will retract all the way back into the retractor except for about 6" of strap (length not including the buckle). But you still can assist the remaining strap back into the retractor to the position where you can pull it out again.

If you're rigging something to hold back the spring you're defeating the purpose of what the seat belt is designed to do. Yes it will satisfy the cops if you get pulled over, showing them that you are wearing your seat belt. But restraint is not there.

My 2¢

 

[Bb70charger500]

I've only had the seatbelt issues on 74's it became quite annoying so I couldn't get the rear lower panels anyways so I bought everything 73 and never had a problem after that .
Or get yourself some lap belts and throw the retractor out the window

 

[sparcy]

I've only had the seatbelt issues on 74's it became quite annoying so I couldn't get the rear lower panels anyways so I bought everything 73 and never had a problem after that .
Or get yourself some lap belts and throw the retractor out the window

 

[sparcy]

its locked up rite now !! can't even get it too retrack or move ether way !!!

 

[sparcy]

What mine does is: when you pull out the strap it will go forward w/o stopping unless you stop the motion. If so you have to reset it back all the way retracted. But as long as you pull it forward in one motion you're good to go. So it's best to take the strap with one sweeping motion and pull it all the way out and then you back track it to the adjusted position. Now on the return, if you snap release it, it will retrieve all the way back into the retractor and ready for it to pull forward again. If you slow release it, it will retract all the way back into the retractor except for about 6" of strap (length not including the buckle). But you still can assist the remaining strap back into the retractor to the position where you can pull it out again.

If you're rigging something to hold back the spring you're defeating the purpose of what the seat belt is designed to do. Yes it will satisfy the cops if you get pulled over, showing them that you are wearing your seat belt. But restraint is not there.

My 2¢

seat belts that work are important !! I'm building a hemi for this car !!! now its just a big block controlled by a nut

 

['68 Charger]

seat belts that work are important !! I'm building a hemi for this car !!! now its just a big block controlled by a nut

Understood.

My re-tractors work if you learn how they operate. Did they operate like that when new from the factory? I'm not sure. Remember back then they were making improvements on a year-to-year basis.

Just my 2¢ again.

 

[Bb70charger500]

Sounds like there trashed ,classic industry sells reproduction s they used to have exact ones but they were pricey the ones they sell now seemed decent I ordered a set for my 70 charger big block 4 speed car but only got to play with them in the house never built the car

 

[Northern Runner]

On my 74 I just pulled the back covers off the drivers side and cleaned all the mechanisms up really well, then coated the inside moving parts with some dry lube. It helped them out a lot and the belts don't lock as much as they used to. Hopefully it will work out long term.
I didn't do the passenger side because when ladies are riding in the car, they always seem to get the belts stuck just like you guys are describing, thus I "have" to lean all the way over and help them out by showing them the trick!

 

['68 Charger]

Thanks for the tip. I'm going to try that on my set to see if I can improve their performance. If they come out working good then it will allow me to add value to the complete 1973 Plymouth B Body (2 door) seat belt set for someone who may need them. Only thing being is that the re-tractor casings are dry rotted and cracked. So one would need to switch the casings out or repair them. The casings are blue but the rest of the seat belts are black even though it was a blue interior car. The back passenger re-tractors work really well.

Again thanks for the tip Northern Runner.

 

[wvmarv]

Lube them up with Powdered Graphite Lubricant. Problem solved.