Seatbelt differences- who knew?

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PEIslander

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The shoulder belt on my 94 Chevy 3500 appeared to have been chewed through by a dog. A friend who lives 1000km away found what we thought was the identical belt in a pick-a-part (same color too) and mailed it to me. It installed nicely (my old bolt even came out easy) however when I went to buckle it up the metal clasp (or whatever you call it) is too wide for my buckle!
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Why would GM have variations on this? I emailed him asking if he can get the buckle portion (which means having to remove the seat to install it). If not I guess I could grind it down to fit but don't really want to have to do this. Anyone else run into this? Was there a certain year the width of the clasp changed?
 

Supercharged111

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How? It's sewn in place. My friend only sent me the retractor side of the belt. He's going to go the the yard he got it from Monday and see if he can get the buckle side. If not I may have to grind it to fit.

You can't get the buckle itself apart? Does that one have a bar inside that you could slide out the side to free it from the belt?
 

PEIslander

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You can't get the buckle itself apart? Does that one have a bar inside that you could slide out the side to free it from the belt?

That's not my issue. Nothing is stuck the buckle. My replacement belt will not even go in the buckle because the blade is too wide. I need to find a matching buckle now or grind the blade on my replacement to fit which doesn't guarantee it will work
 

SUBURBAN5

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Just throwing it out there the narrow one looks like my suburban belt. so you can get a new bottom at any junk yard. May have to paint it. But I know for sure that's a 98 suburban seat belt style I personally would not grind it. I know you want the thicker one to work. But unless he gets the bottom. You'll have to hunt it down.
 

sewlow

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Don't grind it. Wait for your bud to send you the proper female receiver. Those male ends are cold-stamped for a reason.
If that release mechanism ever failed after being ground down, the Ins. Co. legal department (!) wouldn't even break a sweat finding an excuse to deny a claim. Along with applying any liability.
As soon as that belt assembly has been modified in any manner so that any one part does not match up with the certification tags stitched onto the belt webbing, which designates compliance with legal standards, any & all liability on the part of the manufacturer is null & void.
Seat belts are pretty inexpensive to produce. It's those tags that cost. The tests to meet the standards are extensive, as they should be. Each individual part is tested, then the whole assembly as a unit. The simplest modification to one part may cause a failure.
If you lived in the States, that could be life-changing. Financially devastating.
But hey! Canada! Free medical, eh?
Ins. Co.'s only need the most minimum of excuses to reduce or even outright deny a claim.
Here's a whack of 'em!
There's probably one guy in that legal department that knows all this stuff off of the top of his head!
Everything you'll need to know about installing seat belts & still be within the law.
The reason why I have not ever, nor will ever, even stitch on a seat belt, let alone modify a mechanism.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/571.209
 
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