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Seat Belts

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Frank Wyatt

Seat Belts

I have a 1981 F 150 and was wondering if there were/are longer seat belts for these trucks. mine seme to be a little on the short side. I have had three of these trucks {1985, 1980, my 1981} over the last 25 years and all three were the same way and I'm not exactly an overly over weight person.

1981 F 150 Custom 300 ci with a fully rebuilt 1968 240 head Carter YFA T-18 3.25 9" rear 2WD
dual gas tanks
1990 Lincoln Town Car 5.0 AOD
Home town Mc Kenzie, TN

1986F150Six

Re: Seat Belts

Administrator

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1976-1989-Ford-F-150-Seat-Belt-Extender-Extension/132918108445?fits=Year%3A1983%7CModel%3AF-150%7CMake%3AFord&hash=item1ef289611d:g:46AAAMXQJ3xRczK1:rk:4:pf:0

Steve83

Re: Seat Belts

Banned User

In reply to this post by Frank Wyatt

white knite wrote

...if there were/are longer seat belts for these trucks.

There are/were extensions.

white knite wrote

mine seme to be a little on the short side.

Then it's possible they're not fully unrolling. It's relatively common for belts to get twisted, or for foreign objects to collect inside the reels, or for the reels to get dirty/rusty and not work right. Read these captions:

Frank Wyatt

Re: Seat Belts

After looking at your link my, retracters may be dirty and need cleaning. They also tend to auto lock occasionally whenever I hit a bump, which is extremely annoying. Then there are times that it seems they are not as short, but just barely. And at 225 lbs, the belts just shouldn't be short.

1981 F 150 Custom 300 ci with a fully rebuilt 1968 240 head Carter YFA T-18 3.25 9" rear 2WD
dual gas tanks
1990 Lincoln Town Car 5.0 AOD
Home town Mc Kenzie, TN

Gary Lewis

Re: Seat Belts

Administrator

Not that it will do you much good now, but they did issue a TSB about "Seatbelts on the subject vehicles that tighten upon the driver or passengers when the vehicle is in motion".

Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile

Dad's: '81 F150 Ranger XLT 4x4: Down for restomod: Full-roller "stroked 351M" w/Trick Flow heads & intake, EEC-V SEFI/E4OD/3.50 gears w/Kevlar clutches
Blue: 2015 F150 Platinum 4x4 SuperCrew wearing Blue Jeans & sporting a 3.5L EB & Max Tow
Big Blue: 1985 F250HD 4x4: 460/ZF5/3.55's, D60 w/Ox locker & 10.25 Sterling/Trutrac, Blue Top & Borgeson, & EEC-V MAF/SEFI

Frank Wyatt

Re: Seat Belts

THAT would be a huge improvement. Thinking about it, I never had that problem with my 1985 F 250. In fact, the '85 F 250's seat belts never seemed on the short side neither, if I remember correctly as that was in the '90's. I see a trip to the JY next month coming up.

1981 F 150 Custom 300 ci with a fully rebuilt 1968 240 head Carter YFA T-18 3.25 9" rear 2WD
dual gas tanks
1990 Lincoln Town Car 5.0 AOD
Home town Mc Kenzie, TN

Ford F834

Re: Seat Belts

Administrator

I wonder if by chance the seat belts were lengthened during the Bullnose run. I have noticed that the belts in my ‘81 are annoyingly short. They are hard to get on if I am wearing a jacket, and I can’t lean as far forward as I would like to check for cross traffic. They suck. I don’t remember my ‘86 being that tight but maybe it’s just me getting old and fat. My wife is short and busty, so these belts don’t fit her at all. The shoulder strap goes right across her neck.

So... I ordered an extender. The eBay seller was a bit crooked. He posted a pic of a Ford one, but what I got was the Chinese knock off with lousy chrome and an ugly red button. My fault for not reading the fine print thoroughly enough. Seems to work well enough but I wish I had held out for NOS. It definitely fixes my ability to lean forward and wear a jacket. We will see if my wife can wear the belt now. It does not lower the shoulder strap but it does move it to the side, hopefully off of her neck 😬.

SHORT BED 4-DOOR DIESEL: 1986 F350 4x4 under construction-- 7.3 IDIT ZF5+GVOD

STRAIGHT SIX 4X4: 1981 F150 2wd to 4x4-- 300 I6 close ratio diesel T19, hydroboost brakes, Saginaw steering

BIG F: 1995 F-Superduty under construction— converting to 6.9L IDI diesel ZF5+DNE2

Gary Lewis

Re: Seat Belts

Administrator

Jonathan - It is hard to tell, but it does look like there was a change in '83. The reason it is hard to tell is that they changed the colors frequently, but we can use "black" as the one to track for a regular cab w/a bench seat:

1980 before GG0,001 E0TZ 10611B60-A

1980 after GG0,001 E0TZ 10611B60-A

1983 E3TZ 10611B60-F

Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile

Ford F834

Re: Seat Belts

Administrator

Good detective work Gary! What I need to do is measure the fully extended length of both. The odd thing is it did not occur to me to do so when I was checking out the extension. I am so used to my crew cab being hours away that it didn’t even cross my mind! This will take some getting used to 🤪. I’ll try to remember on Monday after my weekend work block.

Gary Lewis

Re: Seat Belts

Administrator

And, we can record the measurements here.

Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile

Frank Wyatt

Re: Seat Belts

In reply to this post by Ford F834

That's what my thinking tells me as I am still about the same size that I have been for the last 25 years. The belts in my '85 F250 never seemed short while my '81 doesn't have any excess. However, at least they don't try to strangle me every time I hit a bump like the '80 F150 did.

1981 F 150 Custom 300 ci with a fully rebuilt 1968 240 head Carter YFA T-18 3.25 9" rear 2WD
dual gas tanks
1990 Lincoln Town Car 5.0 AOD
Home town Mc Kenzie, TN