84 fleetwood southwind seatbelt upgrade

[jmurphy5]

This 84 has the old lap belts can i upgrade the front two captains chairs. Has anyone else upgraded seatbelts?

Thanks jim

[Winnebeater]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmurphy5 This 84 has the old lap belts can i upgrade the front two captains chairs. Has anyone else upgraded seatbelts? Thanks jim

If you just want upgrade to a nicer lap belt then check out Replacement Seatbelts, Seat Belts, Retractable Seat Belts, and Seatbelt Extenders @ SeatBeltsPlus.co. They can send you color swatches so you can pick the best ones to match your interior colors.

If you want to upgrade to a shoulder harness, the research I did led me to believe that you can't. We replaced all the furniture in our motorhome and wanted to update the captains chairs to a style with an integrated shoulder harness. While checking into that we were told that to order the seats we had to provide VIN # for our coach and with the provided VIN # they had to be able to prove that it originally came with shoulder harness belts. To say the least we still have lap harnesses

[SyrenSkywolf]

I've seen mods around before that integrate shoulder belts into captains chairs, but I don't know if it is doable for any motorhome. Most I have seen them for was Class-C's using seat belt systems from compatible vans (Ford for Ford, Dodge for Dodge, etc). Best of luck, I don't blame you for wanting to upgrade!

[BigV]

I was not about to try to fabricate shoulder belts. You pretty much have to upgrade seats.

I did however change my old lap belts. The originals hung down on the floor and were a pain. I bought new ones from here.

[Midniteoyl]

3 Point Retractable Seat Belts with Long Sash Guide

About half way down..: Retractable Seat Belts

[dgapilot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Midniteoyl 3 Point Retractable Seat Belts with Long Sash Guide About half way down..: Retractable Seat Belts

The problem with this approach is that the coach structure is not designed as a shoulder belt attach point. If you use this approach, you run the risk of having the upper attach point break free in a collision and having no seat belt protection.

The only real way to do it would be to retrofit seats with belt attach points in the seat back. Even then, if your current belt attach points are in the floor, you may not have sufficient structure for the seat attach.

[Midniteoyl]

Well.. you would need to reinforce any way..

[dgapilot]

So if you figure about a 20g impact load and a 200 lb occupant, you need to reinforce the attach point to hold a 4000lb load + 150% safety factor, so that means a structure that would hold 6000 lbs going forward from the attach point. That's going to take some interesting bracing!

[Midniteoyl]

I see I am gonna have to actually engineer one for you..

However, depending on the type and model, I dont see where it would be all that hard. Even if a different type from what I showed was used and attached behind the seat to a hard point. Whether you used a seat with a shoulder belt hole, or used the side wall as a shoulder sash guide anchor attachment point (look at how flimsy this is on your car), it could be done.. all it takes is a little research, time, and few modifications.