Seat belt cleaning

[Skunksmash]

I want to clean my long seat belts, the ones that you pull over your shoulder when you buckle up. When I put the short belts through the washing machine they came out looking brand new. So I'd like to do the same to my shoulder belts. But when I went to take them apart, I ran into this little red cap on them that says "DO NOT REMOVE". Is there some reason that they won't work anymore if you take all that stuff apart? Is it sealed up in some way? I'm not going to do it if its not safe.

[bake74]

     I believe that red cap cover the spring mechanism that retracts the seat belt.  I have taken some apart it the past, but could never get them to work properly again.  There might be a way, but at the time I did not have access to the right tools or knowledge perhaps.

[Skunksmash]

Hmm. A difficult choice then. Take it apart and try to get it back together, or drop some serious coin on new ones, eventually.

My seat belts are very filthy. And they're that light tan color so everything that ever got on 'em shows up.

[78 Chevyrado]

If its convenient, go buy a junkyard belt retractor and practice on that.  get one just like yours or as close as you can.  definately get 80's GM.  should be cheap, and if you ruin it, no big loss.


I've never taken one apart.  When I've had to clean my belts, I just pull them out as far as i can and clean what I can.  Usually they don't get pulled out all the way anyway.

[Skunksmash]

Mine have been very ugly since I got the truck. I guess if I had one of those professional grade automotive steam cleaners, that could work. Perhaps taking it to a good detail shop and only having them clean the seat belts might be a good idea.

[jaredts]

Pull it all the way out, outside the truck.  Soak it down with a hose, then spray it with a mild degreaser or carpet cleaner spray.  Scrub lightly with a plastic bristle brush.  Repeat several times, rinse with the hose and then shop-vac it as dry as you can.  Leave it out for a day or so to dry and then retract.

[bake74]

Pull it all the way out, outside the truck.  Soak it down with a hose, then spray it with a mild degreaser or carpet cleaner spray.  Scrub lightly with a plastic bristle brush.  Repeat several times, rinse with the hose and then shop-vac it as dry as you can.  Leave it out for a day or so to dry and then retract.

     This was my suggestion too.  I have used a pair of needle nose vise grips to hold them out, used strong cleaning detergent and washed a couple of times, rinsed very well, dried and put back in vehicle.  Unless yours is so far gone to not be able to clean, this should work for you.  Also while you have them out and locked out, blow out the inner spring mechanism with compressed air the best you can to get rid of most of the dirt and dust.

[Captkaos]

I pulled mine out and put a clip on it so it wouldn't retract and soaked it in Dawn liquid in a bucket.

[Skunksmash]

Did that work out pretty well? I'm looking for a solution that isn't very... labor intensive on my part.

[Captkaos]

yeah, this is a comparison of the before after process: