The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Interiors seat belts in a 48

Has anybody put seat belts in their 48-54 truck? Lap belts would be easy, but, I want to add the shoulder strap as well. What would they attach to???? ken

Deve, wrote what I'd consider the book on the subject, it can be found here.

I did mine similar to what he did with a few modifications. That can be found here.

Deve's good works on this are also shown here:

http://www.julianos.com/how2_3point_antique_chevy_truck.html

Aww, I dont care what anyone else says about you guys! LOL! Yeah, do it right when it comes to the 3 point system and be sure to beef things up for safety.

Also, I like the idea of a bracket that comes up from the floor at the back edge of the seat pedestal and rises up to meet at about the seat bottom/seat back intersection rather than what I did and just bolted to the floor. Thanks to everyone who took my idea and ran with it. We all learn more that way!

So rather than just the hole in the floor coming up thru to the back of the seat pedestal, do that without modification, but then, make a bracket out of about 10 gauge steel that follows the seat pedestal back and has another weld nut on it at about the height of the seat intersection to bolt the belts to. Spot weld this bracket to the pedestal so it cant move. Happy to describe this better if you need. Its just another way of doing it, and it could be better in the long run, but I havent really assessed the difference myself.

A little off topic, and this guy was very lucky, but if he would have used Deve's method, he would have had a much smoother ride.
Bad Seatbelt Installation

That hurt just watching it. If you are drag racing, you need the 4 point harness and no messing around with inferior methods. I feel that way with my projects. Safety just isnt up for grabs.

Deluxe cab?

I think a key point to remember is that Deve's installation is done on a restored cab. Don't assume belts will hold safely if you are installing belts into a well used and rusty truck without first examining the floor pans where the belts will tie in. The floors ARE NOT that strong by themselves.

Thanks guys for the input and especially the videos. Using Deves guide i have the driver side installed and the passenger and center will get put in today. The 48 has the gas tank under the bed so with no gas tank behind the seat it was a bit easier. I am using a set of belts "stolen" from a '91 Astro van. Each bolt thru sheet metal, whether floor or sides or riser, has a 10 gauge piece as backup - dont want those things pulling out. Maybe some day I will figure out how to post pictures as links on this site.

I'm planning to install the same Juliano's belt set in the 48 2 ton.
What length lap belt did you use for the middle position?