Seat Belt length seems wrong

[nlauffer]

I am wondering what the correct length for the floppy end of the seatbelt on a retractable 3 point style for a bench seat is. 

I have a set that seems too long.  Mine is 20" and it connects the retractable part in a triangle above my stomach.  Not straight across the waist.

I have an 83 GMC with bench seat.  I purchased a set from Wesco, before I spent much time on here and saw the ones here.  I like the product OK, but I have not seen other brands.  The fit sucks. 

How do I go about shortening them?

[Captkaos]

They should be about 20".  You cannot safely shorten them.

[nlauffer]

I haven't actually measured mine. I was just going off Wesco's website.
How do I fix the fit, because it's not off a little, it's way off. The stock belts I took out were perfect fit. They just had issues latching sometimes. So I replaced all the belts.

Maybe I should actually measure the length first.

[nlauffer]

Well, I measured them and they are 20" long.  I am not sure what the deal is.  I don't have the interior in my pickup right now, so it is not a big deal yet.  Maybe when I get my seat redone, I'll see what I can do.

[Captkaos]

Buckets are 20" from eye to end, pickup are just slightly shorter.  Keep in mind they eye mounts flat to the floor...

[nlauffer]

So, if I have a bench seat in a pickup, are you saying they should be shorter than 20".  Also, you said they cannot be safely shortened.  I was thinking about taking them to an upholstery shop.  Would that still not be OK. 

Not a big deal right now.  It will probably take me awhile to need them again.  Also, my driver's side of the bench seat has a broken wire underneath and so it sags.  Maybe that's the real problem.  I removed my old ones and bolted these down in there place with new bolts all at the same time.  Then I threw the old ones in the dumpster.  No going back to check now. 

I didn't really like how the retractor bolted down when I did it.  I guess that is the problem with universal.  It was your post about one of your vendors selling them that got me thinking about this.  I'm gonna take another look at those and might just order those.

[Captkaos]

Mine on my pickup were 20" for the buckets and they were 19 7/8" measureing through a sleeve for bench.  So it won't matter.

[nlauffer]

Yeah not much of a difference there.  What do you think about the upholstery shop shortening and restitching the seat belts?

[Captkaos]

I would ask them about it, remember this is you life you are talking about and many of these have safety standards to meet.

[nlauffer]

Very, very true.  I was thinking that if they have the right sewing machine they could do it.  I would ask first and not accept anything that didn't look completely factory.  And also not, if they said something like "Well, we can try."

[Irish_Alley]

the broken seat wire will make you sit lower and the belt wont fit right just cause of that