Jeep repairs - seat belt latch

Last night I did a few repairs to White Jeep. My seat belt latch has been giving me trouble for a while. The little spring that forces the catch into the tang of the belt broke. I managed to get by for a long time by just shoving the parts of the spring back to together, but eventually that failed as well. I then stole the spring out of the center seat belt in the rear as the rear seat seldom gets used. However, the driver's side front buckle is slightly different from the rear in that it has a switch in it. I had to cut out the switch to get the rear parts in. This has worked well for a couple of months with the exception of being hard to disconnect.

Yesterday, it failed again. Part of the plastic from the old switch jammed the mechanism and bent the release mechanism.

I have made all the previous repairs with the seat belt still attached to the tunnel because I had not been able to get the bolt loose. Well last night I decided it would be much easier to make the repair on the bench so I used my air wrench to remove the bolt. It came out easily with the torque of the thunder gun.

Once it was out and I could see and move parts around, I cut out the remaining plastic from he switch and made the mechanism work smoother. I had to bend the tabs on the release button back into the proper position. After a few tries I was able to snap the cover back on and have every thing stay in place.

I have thought of buying a new belt but when I found the price was over $200 for the belt, I decided to fix mine again. It is amazing how motivating saving $200 can be.

It is nice to have a seat belt that stays fastened and comes loose when I push the button.

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