1972 Blazer 3-Point Seatbelt w/ Roll Bar Options
I have a 1972 Blazer with the factory lap seat belts.
The truck has a roll bar. I plan to never run the hardtop on it. I'd like to put in 3-Point retractable seat belts in it using the factory lower holes and mounting the top part to the roll bar. I'm going to a truck salvage yard on Saturday to look for something that might work. Anyone have any suggestions? Anyone do something similar? If so what did you do? I'm looking to do this on the cheap, so I'm not looking at the aftermarket companies for new belts. Thanks in advance !! |
Re: 1972 Blazer 3-Point Seatbelt w/ Roll Bar Options
Squarebody trucks should work
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Re: 1972 Blazer 3-Point Seatbelt w/ Roll Bar Options
Thanks
I'll take a look tomorrow. |
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Re: 1972 Blazer 3-Point Seatbelt w/ Roll Bar Options
Sound good.
Thanks for the pics. |
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For rear shoulder belts you will need to fabricate a "family" roll bar. |
Re: 1972 Blazer 3-Point Seatbelt w/ Roll Bar Options
There are really only two options for shoulder belts in the Blazer/Jimmy. I used the roll bar and welded a small piece of flat bar onto the roll bar to thicken it where I tapped it for the bolt. The other option is to get a later-model seat that has an integral shoulder belt. The SMC used to fabricate the hard top isn't strong enough to serve as an anchor.
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Re: 1972 Blazer 3-Point Seatbelt w/ Roll Bar Options
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https://www.streettrucksmag.com/a-pe...evy-k5-blazer/ |
Re: 1972 Blazer 3-Point Seatbelt w/ Roll Bar Options
It's an interesting concept. Just be aware that, without proper bracing, it may not have the strength to retain a full-sized adult in a frontal impact, where the shoulder belt is most important.
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I used these clamps fro Ballistic Fabrication to attach the shoulder belt to my roll bar.
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Re: 1972 Blazer 3-Point Seatbelt w/ Roll Bar Options
Tom thanks for the idea
Do they look beefy, well made? I have 4 point harness, with anti submarine. Pondering this for a long time, and they look like the answer |
Re: 1972 Blazer 3-Point Seatbelt w/ Roll Bar Options
FWIW, those clamps are definitely not strong enough for seat belts. Great for holding fire extinguishers, but that's about it.
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Re: 1972 Blazer 3-Point Seatbelt w/ Roll Bar Options
Thanks for the advice, but if I could see how one is made I could reverse engineer for strength
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The problem with this design is that in a seat belt application all the force will be put right on the bent part of the hoops which looks to have a material thickness of around (1/8") X 1/4", and also, that area is further weakened due to work hardening when it was bent. Tensile strength of 1018 steel is around 60000 PSI, so each one of those bent corners has a tensile strength of 1875 LBS. If two of those corner fail, so will the seat belt. A car accident could generate 50G, so your 200LB body could weigh over 10000 LBS. I could go on, but I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this. Don't use these for seat belts unless you have a death wish. |
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Just have to find an alternative solution |
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Not sure if you weld, but if you want I can make you a CAD file of a bracket that you can get waterjet/plasma/laser cut just about anywhere, and I would just email it to you. |
Re: 1972 Blazer 3-Point Seatbelt w/ Roll Bar Options
thanks for the offer but I'm not ready for that yet I'll keep you in mind
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Re: 1972 Blazer 3-Point Seatbelt w/ Roll Bar Options
If you can't weld the next-best option is probably to drill and tap the roll bar, or to bolt through the roll bar.
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Re: 1972 Blazer 3-Point Seatbelt w/ Roll Bar Options
Think that would be strong enough
I suck at welding |
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I build race car components, and I don't think I'll be suggesting my customers to use these other than to hold a fire extinguisher. |
Re: 1972 Blazer 3-Point Seatbelt w/ Roll Bar Options
Have you inspected the shoulder attachment that GM put in the tops for the shoulder restraint?
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Re: 1972 Blazer 3-Point Seatbelt w/ Roll Bar Options
I think the more important question is how is your roll bar mounted to the bed of the blazer? If the roll bar is just thru bolted into tub of the blazer that is going to fail way before any of those mounting clips will fail with the leverage of mounting the 3rd point of the seat belt to the top of the roll bar.
If i was mounting a seat belt to the roll bar my roll bar would be attached to the frame of the blazer or at the very least have backer plates that sandwich the tub. |
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Anyway, I ain't gonna beat this dead horse anymore. |
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I'm a Tool & Die Maker by trade and tend to over build stuff too, but if the weak link is the attaching point of the roll bar to the floor, that hard of an impact will kill me anyway. :lol: |
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