seat belt retractors

shrike · Aug 26, 2003

Has anyone installed or tried to install seat belt retractors(makes the seat belt roll up upon itself) on their tractor? My seat belt gets between the inside of the fender and the seat and can be a pain to reach and extract. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
Bruce

Henro · Aug 26, 2003

Both my tractors came with retractors standard...worst case maybe you could buy one from a tractor dealer and bolt it on in place of what you have now...

They work quite well...

Bird · Aug 26, 2003

I would think installing seat belts with retactors would be a goot idea. My 1995 B7100 came without it and I had to replace the seat belt while it was still in warranty, but my 1999 B2710 came with a retractor.

Gary_in_Indiana · Aug 27, 2003

I remember getting some of those for my first car. They were after market items at the time. I'm not sure it wasn't the first "accessory" I ever bought for a car. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

TheKid · Aug 27, 2003

Mine came with a retractor and I hate it. Seems like everytiime I hit a bump the seat belt gets another notch tighter. I ended up using a spring clamp to keep it from retracting.

How about a piece of velcro on the belt and the fender. That way when you unhook you can hang the belt up.

Hambone · Aug 27, 2003

I was going to mention the tightening up thing.
Mine has these little brackets on the fender that holds the belt when not in use.

mikim · Aug 28, 2003

Years ago you could get "spring rollers" that clipped on to the middle of the belt - then when unhooked they would roll up on themselves - no idea if they are still available - that was back when seatbelts weren't in all cars and if they were - not too many people actually used 'em.

Gary_in_Indiana · Aug 28, 2003

That's exactly the thing to which I was referring. They have nothing to do with the length or tightness of the belt. The merely rolled the belt up neatly when it wasn't in use. I can't imagine they're still made as most every car has built in retractors now.

joel_s · Aug 28, 2003

My New Holland had the same problem. Since I work at a JD dealership, I found a retractable set there for a 5400 tractor, I believe. I almost think Deere has it priced wrong, 'cause it was less than $30. It fits and works great. I'll try to remember to get the part number tomorrow. Could send you one if you want.
Joel

joel_s · Aug 30, 2003

John Deere part number AL155361, as used on current 5420 tractors among others, is a nice little retractable belt. Current list is $29.00. Works great on my NH.

Joel

shrike · Sep 2, 2003

Hi all, Surprisingly, those litle clip-on seat belt retractors are still available, but they cost as much as the JD belts, so I will go to my JD dealer and check out their seat belt before I do anything else. Thanks Joel. Let me get this straight, you work at a JD dealership, but you bought a New Holland? I would like to hear that story sometime.

Bruce

joel_s · Sep 2, 2003

Well, it's not quite as bad as it sounds. The tractor, a 1999 model, was traded in on a new Deere. It needed some love but only had 150 hours on it. I had never been near a Boomer before, but the more I looked at it the more I liked it. The thing I liked most was the fact that it didn't have all the electronic this and push-button that of the Deere. Doesn't even have a seat switch! So, to make a long story short, I told 'em I'd take it home for a couple of weeks, play with it, service it, clean it up, and bring it back ready to sell OR keep it. Needless to say, it never went back. I've never used a Deere CUT, but I can't imagine it being any nicer than this! And I kinda like the BLUE. Get tired of looking at green stuff all day.
Joel

MJones · Sep 3, 2003

Surplus Center has a seat belt with retractor for $9.99. Item #:28-1439. You may want to look into this to save some money. Here is the link to their web page. Surplus Center. Just search using the above Item #.

Mike

MikePA · Sep 3, 2003

<font color="blue">Surplus Center has a seat belt with retractor for $9.99. </font>
I just ordered one. $9.63 for Shipping and Handling. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

shrike · Sep 3, 2003

Thanks Mike and Mike. I just ordered the belt with retractors from Surplus Center. As usual, if you need info on anything to do with tractors, TBN is the place!

And Joel, you have put big a /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif on all the New Holland owners faces!

Bruce

MikePA · Oct 25, 2003

<font color="blue"> I just ordered one. $9.63 for Shipping and Handling. </font>
I just installed the retractable belts on my NH TC25D. I thought I could just install the male (the side that retracts) side. However, the new male part of the buckle would not fit the original New Holland female, so I had to install the entire new belt. I had to trim 1 3/4" from the plastic sheath on the male portion since it stood too high above the seat. On the female side, I simply swapped the new plastic sheath for the original one. Also, don't try and adjust the male side by using the plastic sheath! I tried and caused the sheath to pull through the two pop rivets that attach it to the retractor mechanism. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif I had to drill slightly larger holes in the retractor mount and use a slightly larger pop rivets.

Junkman · Oct 25, 2003

Whenever installing a seat belt, don't ever install only one side. Even though the other side may mate up, it is a very dangerous thing to do, because the materials may be different and one part or another will fail. This is why seat belts are only sold in complete sets from the manufacturer... It is only as strong as the weakest link.......

MikePA · Oct 25, 2003

Thanks for the advice, Junkman. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif It's good the new belt wouldn't connect with the old, or I wouldn't have installed the complete set. BTW, for anyone considering this, it's much nicer with the retractable belt. I cut our 3 acre field this afternoon and had to get off the tractor several times to check the radiator screen. It was very nice not to have to look for the belt. Just reach over to the same place every time, grab the belt and hook up. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

rozett · Oct 29, 2003

I am looking at another alternative. At the recent Fryeburg Fair, I checked out the new green and blue tractors on display. One of them, can't remember which color, had seat belt clips bolted to the fenders. Instead of having retractors, you clip the two ends of the belt to these clips on the fenders. It's a simpler solution (kiss) yet still makes it easy to get to the belts. And this solution is adaptable to any color or age tractor. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

tc35dforme · Oct 29, 2003

Yup, that's how my NH TC35D is set up. Works well, but I would probably prefer a retarctor system. With my girth, theres a lot of slack belt laying around when stowed /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif