The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Interiors Seat Belts, What to use and Where/How to install..

Hey Guys,

been awhile and have been busy raising a family. I want to be able to take my family with me for drives in the truck but want everyone to have seat belts. So to all who have installed some. What have you done? I'm looking for any info on what to use, and how/where to install them too in order to be considered somewhat "safe" Any help would be great!

on yeah, the truck is a 1960 C10

3 point belts from around 1985 Chevy truck will work. They have a "boot" that holds the mechanism and looks good and is thin. This boot is mounted to the floor with one bolt. When you find a donor truck, you want to get all the special bolts and nut plates, ALL of them, so you will have options. Not sure about a 1960 but here goes: slit the upper door post from rear or front, whatever is best and to be able to hide the slit with trim. Drill a hole where the upper sling ring will go best. Insert one of the nut plates (about 2" square, bigger the better) into the slit. Line up with the hole and attach the sling screw thru hole and into the plate. You may have to use wire/strap welded to the plate to hold it, then bust off with back and forth motion after screw is in, Shape/cut the plate so that it can not turn in the slit. Have it bang against structure inside the post when trying to turn. Bolt the boot to floor just back of the door opening and bolt the buckle clip webbing or stick up holder to floor behind seat in proper location. you will see how all this goes by observing the donor truck and taking pictures before removing from donor truck. Use original plates or grade 8 hardware with 3/16 or better thickness plates. Use best judgement according to what frame/crossmembers are found under your truck. One of the dangers of adding belts to non belt vehicles, engineering wise, is that the seat attachment strength may not be correct. Check to see if your seats are strong at attachment and elsewhere. If seats come loose and belts stay, serious injury will occur. Also some truck seats fold with no "catch" mechanism and some "catch" mechanisms are not strong enough to keep the back of seat from collapsing. This must also be addressed. As you can see, just slapping some belts in an old truck is not safe at all. Your attachment point at the pillar must me solid. A nut plate shaped like a diamond and as large as you can get into a slot will not pull thru the sheet metal and will not turn when tighening. I don't recommend welding anywhere during this process, except that bust off strap. There are lots of ways to hide the slot. Make a two screw access plate, etc. This is the best I can do using my experience on a TF truck and not knowing exactly the configuration if your truck body. But you can get the basic idea and expand and modify. This is just to get you thinking in the right direction. Of course you can do a two point belt system if you want, but all of the info is the same re: safety. Allot of the salvage yard belts have been cut by the fire dept to remove the occupant, so find a guy who is parting a truck. You can buy new stuff from many aftermarket vendors also. Bartamos

This is not my site, but seen this in another post. Very good pictures for locations and mounting. I plan to follow this guide exactly.

http://picasaweb.google.com/gv50chevy/1950ChevySeatBeltLocation#

Here's how I did it on a '56 wide window. It may give you some ideas.

I used bucket seats from a 03 chevy truck. They have the seat belts made into the seats. Im not staying orignial so its not an issue for me. The center portion of the 3 pc seat I had to modify the bracket and it also had the seat belt made into it. I like them alot more than the original bench seat.

If you have to have seat belts to take the family out in the truck, it seems like no seatbelt = quiet time!