Frank Wyatt Posted January 15, 2019 Share Posted January 15, 2019 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1986F150Six Posted January 15, 2019 Share Posted January 15, 2019 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve83 Posted January 16, 2019 Share Posted January 16, 2019 ...if there were/are longer seat belts for these trucks.There are/were extensions.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: https://supermotors.net/getfile/1141180/thumbnail/beltfrbench.jpg https://supermotors.net/getfile/922621/thumbnail/reel93.jpg https://supermotors.net/getfile/523110/thumbnail/tsb920501beltstwisted.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Wyatt Posted January 16, 2019 Author Share Posted January 16, 2019 ...if there were/are longer seat belts for these trucks.There are/were extensions.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: https://supermotors.net/getfile/1141180/thumbnail/beltfrbench.jpg https://supermotors.net/getfile/922621/thumbnail/reel93.jpg https://supermotors.net/getfile/523110/thumbnail/tsb920501beltstwisted.jpg 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted January 16, 2019 Share Posted January 16, 2019 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. 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". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Wyatt Posted January 16, 2019 Author Share Posted January 16, 2019 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". 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ford F834 Posted March 1, 2019 Share Posted March 1, 2019 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. 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 😬. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted March 1, 2019 Share Posted March 1, 2019 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 😬. 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ford F834 Posted March 2, 2019 Share Posted March 2, 2019 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 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted March 2, 2019 Share Posted March 2, 2019 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. And, we can record the measurements here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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