Installing Seatbelts In The '52 Chevy Truck

Since the truck does not have seatbelts, I ordered a kit from Johnny Law Motors Online with 3-point belts plus a center lap belt, and it includes mounting hardware. It was advertised as a kit for a 1947-54 Chevy truck, but as I discovered while installing it, the hardware kit is generic and does not have everything needed to complete the install. And the small black button on the belt, that keeps it from going too far into the retractor, hits the 3-point shoulder mount as its pulled out and has to be pulled through the mount in order to buckle the belt. To allow the button to pass through the mount I had to modify the mount's plastic cover, so this kit is not ideal for a 3100 truck, but I made it work.

There are no shoulder anchor plates included to install the 3-point belts, and some of the hardware is not 7/16"-20 fine thread as used in many vehicles, but is metric I think. The missing shoulder plates have to have the 7/16"-20 threaded nuts in order to match the included shouldered bolts for the upper mount. The instructions are pretty generic, too. Calling customer service didn't help much either and I finally went online and ordered the missing shoulder plates and some extra hardware from another source.
I had to remove part of the headliner to get in behind the inner cab wall to install the anchor plates for the shoulder straps. Pulling the liner was easy to do and only required removing about ten screws from the back edge, and then slipping the liner section out of the metal groove at the joint.
To install the retractor mounts in the cab corners I used heavy duty 3" fender washers under the floor. Fender washers were not included in the kit so I had to order some online. The provided nut plates wouldn't fit because the hole is too close to the wall, plus the cab mounts are in the way.
The nut plates that are provided in the kit go on the underside of the floor and have mating bolts and split lock washers in the kit to anchor the belts to the floor.
Installing the shoulder mounting points was not too complicated. The hardest part was deciding exactly where to drill the mounting hole. I also had to keep the hole close enough to the edge of the inner wall so I could hold the nut plate while installing the bolt.
Mounting the retractors in the cab corners is a tight fit, but doable. In my truck there are custom interior panels in the corners which I had to remove and will need to trim to fit back in around the retractors.
I decided having just a lap belt in the center is not sufficient protection to keep my grandson from hitting his head on the metal dash in case of an accident, so I ordered a 4-point Y-style harness for the center position. It's from Wesco Performance and will be much safer than just a lap belt, but I need to add another anchor point in the floor behind the seat to mount its shoulder straps.

​As can be seen, the bench seat now has a seat cover. While I'd rather not use a seat cover, I consider it a necessity to protect the seat fabric. This is the best I could find in a ready-made cover that didn't cost a fortune, and is the "Universal" cover from West Coast Auto on Amazon. West Coast also advertises one called the "Fremont Baja", which which did not fit my seat. The Fremont is way too small and the Universal is just a bit too big, but I made it work.

The biggest issue I had adding a seat cover was caused by the 4-point harness. It only has the single buckle on the lap belt, so to install both the harness and the cover I had to feed the harness through the cover before bolting it to the floor. To get the seat cover back off again I'd have to unbolt the harness, or cut the cover off.
Page created 4/29/2924
Last updated 5/2/2024