how to remove front seat belts?

[chris b]

I want to remove the front seat belts from my 9000 to clean them properly.  Grateful for any advice on how to get them out and back as painlessly as possible.  Many thanks   

[phoenix]

As they are on inertia reels I can't see that there's a lot of advantage to be gained from removing them: you'd need the reel attached to something solid in order to stretch the belt out and the something solid would have to be upright or the tilt switch would activate and lock the reel.

It is probably as effective to just undo the mount on the seat then you can pull the length of the belt out. You need to remove the side seat trim:

Roughly from memory there is
- two screws behind caps on the side- these are obvious
- a less obvious smaller screw without a cap that is accessed from the back of the seat at the bottom of the side trim panel.

Once the trim is removed you can get to the bolt that secures the belt to the chair. 18 or 19mm from memory.

[chris b]

now that's a good idea - thank you.  Will wait for some better weather so the belts dry out and try in outside.  I had a leaky matrix for a while and the smell has permeated all seat belts and carpet.... nice.   Anyone any suggestions on how to get the carpets out easily or is it a dog of a job?  I want to avoid cleaning them in situ since dont' want any rust issues from wet/damp carpets

[Max Headroom]

I'ver not tried one, but one of these might help

LINK

[phoenix]

Carpet removal is more tedious than difficult. Normally a leaking heater matrix only spews onto the rear section as the coolant travels down the air ducts.

As you might guess, it's a seats out job, then remove all the surrounding trim. Nothing difficult and no particular gotchas, it just takes time. It's in 3 main pieces: passenger & driver footwell sections plus a large single piece for the rear seating area.

However if you've got something like a Vax which leave the carpets fairly dry, then that will be quite OK, especially if done on a warm day. I'd still take the seats out though to make sure you get to all of it and to allow the best air circulation to aid drying.

[chris b]

thanks to everyone for the replies.  I've tried an airfreshner bomb but once it wears off the smell's back. 

I'll take the seats out and clean the carpet next.  Any advice on how to get the front seats out would be much appreciated.   Fingers crossed for a hot sunny weekend soon!

[phoenix]

Front seats- remove seatbelt first.

There's 4 bolts that hold each one to the floor. I think they're T45 but might be T40 or T50 torx.

You have to slide the seat fully forward to get at the rear ones and fully backwards and raise it a little for access to the front. If they're not been out before they will be stiff as they have threadlock on them, so a ratchet is the easiest method to get them out. I've never bothered re-applying threadlock.

[bc109]

The bolts holding seat to floor are straightforward.  The problem is the bolt holding the seat belt to the seat. This bolt has a very slim head, and has a torx at the centre. The seat covers this bolt so it is very difficult to access, even when the trim is removed. Don't bother with trying the torx.....the bolt will be far too tight.  Best solution, the type of multi-spanner seen as part of a bicycle repair kit....very slim.  If you can find one that fits, thump it with a hammer before the seat is loosened from the floor.

[chris b]

thanks everyone.  Waiting for a sunny weekend now to get going with the job..!

[Max Headroom]

...a sunny weekend...

What's one of those then?

....Oh yes, I remember!