How I Installed Rear Seat Belts

in my Full Size Jeep Wagoneer

First off, as you might have guessed, here's the big "lawyer" warning: This is simply a description of how *I* installed rear seat belts in my own personal vehicle. This is not a "how-to" article. I am not advising you to copy or in any way imitate what I am showing you here. The modification(s) shown on this page are not safe. Do not attempt do duplicate them. If you do, you choose to do so at your own risk and you choose to assume any and all risk associated with such modification. Got it? In short, don't sue me if you get hurt trying to do what I did.

OK, now here's what I did to install rear shoulder belts in my FSJ.

I obtained a set of FRONT shoulder belts from another FSJ, including all the bolt hardware. When I removed the bolts, I used a BIG 1/2"socket breaker bar and made sure that the Torx socket driver was firmly seated in the bolt head. I broke several Torx bits before I figured out why. With my new treasures in hand, I headed home.

On my way, I stopped at the local iron place and bought 2 L shaped pieces of metal, aprox 2" long, and 3" in length on each side.

I drilled 2 holes in the metal, one on each face. I drilled these so that I could mount the retractors on the top hump of the rear wheel well. The wheel well is horizontal at this point, and the retractor must mount to a vertical face. The L piece allows the installation of the retractor in the correct upright position. There is a mechanical weight that locks the belt in the event of a sudden deceleration (braking or impact with another object). This weight must hang straight down at rest in order for the retractor to work properly. I also backed the wheel well with several large fender washers to help prevent the retractor from pulling out during an accident. Continuing my tradition of overkill whenever I can, I used grade 8 bolts.

If you remove your rear headliner, you will see an emplty bolt hole above and to the rear (slightly) of the top of the wheel well. This is actually the mounting point for the inside tire carrier (if so equipped). It is  also the mounting point for the Jeep aftermarket shoulder harness kit (which does not have any way for retraction of the shoulder belts) and is/was only available in BLACK. I bolted the shackle (part of the belt that usually mounts on the B pillar) to this location using one of the seat belt bolts from the donor truck. The threads matched perfectly, like it was designed for it originally!

The final attachment point needed was right where the rear seat anchor is bolted to the side of the wheel well.  The attachment hardware on the seatbelt is angled. I carefully flattened the metal so that I could bolt it behind the seatbelt anchor. I didn't want to tear the seatbelt fabric in any way, so I clamped it in a vise, making sure the fabric part was not being crushed at all.

That's really all there was to it. It wasn't terrible complicated. I'd rate it at 2 banannas because I had to "fabricate" 2 pieces of metal and I had to use a drill for 6 holes. Oh, and I was required to bend metal.

Here's what my seatbelts look like.

See Rear Belts Again (link is at the top of the page) for an update!

All images and text are © 2007 Ethan Brady. Please do not steal, but feel free to link directly to this page.