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Hi guys. Today, I thought I'd try and fix one of the seat belts (passenger side, middle row). Mine's a 2003 Prado 120, and as many others have reported, the tension on the belt seems to drop off with the older vehicles. Mine was barely retracting. Anyways, I followed this link to get an idea as to what to do:
http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/minutemods/seatbelt/
However, whilst I was attempting to tighten up the reel, I let go by mistake and the spring tension unwound entirely. "Not a big deal" I thought - I'll just wind it back on again. Alas, my plan was not to be. Somehow, the spindle was no longer attached to the spring, and it wasn't winding on - bugger! Thoughts of forking out at least $300 for a replacement (amayama.com) was not appealing - surely this is fixable... So, here's how I managed to successfully pull apart the spring mechanism and re-attach the end of the spring.
1. The following is a shot of the plastic shroud under which is the spring:
2. You need to take this off. It's attached by 3 plastic legs in each of which you need to push out a small plastic, "post" (they actually push all the way through - push from the inside with something that won't damage the plastic, and don't lose them!):
3. Once the 3 plastic posts have been pushed out, you may need to squeeze together the plastic legs in order to take off the shroud. Once the shroud comes off (it holds the spring), you'll see this black plastic bit on the end of the shaft:
4. This black thing is meant to be hooked up to the spring, but in my case, it definitely wasn't. This is a shot of the rear of the sprint housing - you can see a bit of the spring:
5. Now you need to remove the white plastic cover from the brown part that actually houses the spring. There are 2 tabs on either side that merely require you to pull the white plastic away from the tab and push it up to release. it's not too difficult, and I apologise for not taking any photos of this stage!
6. Once the white cover has been taken off, you can see the bent part at the end of the spring, which needs to be re-inserted into the slot in the black plastic, "thing", taken off the end of the shaft, as you can see below (I hadn't quite pushed it in all the way at this point):
7. The following shot shows the layout when pulled apart:
8. Then you put the white plastic cover back on (it just snaps on via those 2 tabs):
9. Then you just put the spring housing back where it belongs, ensuring the black plastic thingy lines up with, and slides back onto the shaft. Push each of the 3 supporting legs back into the same holes, and then push the 3 plastic pasts back in (from the outside),
That's it!! Then wind the bloody thing up again (it will start clicking quite early in the winding phase from the mechanism on the other side, but you can ignore this). And don't let it go again!
Regards,
Stuart
http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/minutemods/seatbelt/
However, whilst I was attempting to tighten up the reel, I let go by mistake and the spring tension unwound entirely. "Not a big deal" I thought - I'll just wind it back on again. Alas, my plan was not to be. Somehow, the spindle was no longer attached to the spring, and it wasn't winding on - bugger! Thoughts of forking out at least $300 for a replacement (amayama.com) was not appealing - surely this is fixable... So, here's how I managed to successfully pull apart the spring mechanism and re-attach the end of the spring.
1. The following is a shot of the plastic shroud under which is the spring:
2. You need to take this off. It's attached by 3 plastic legs in each of which you need to push out a small plastic, "post" (they actually push all the way through - push from the inside with something that won't damage the plastic, and don't lose them!):
3. Once the 3 plastic posts have been pushed out, you may need to squeeze together the plastic legs in order to take off the shroud. Once the shroud comes off (it holds the spring), you'll see this black plastic bit on the end of the shaft:
4. This black thing is meant to be hooked up to the spring, but in my case, it definitely wasn't. This is a shot of the rear of the sprint housing - you can see a bit of the spring:
5. Now you need to remove the white plastic cover from the brown part that actually houses the spring. There are 2 tabs on either side that merely require you to pull the white plastic away from the tab and push it up to release. it's not too difficult, and I apologise for not taking any photos of this stage!
6. Once the white cover has been taken off, you can see the bent part at the end of the spring, which needs to be re-inserted into the slot in the black plastic, "thing", taken off the end of the shaft, as you can see below (I hadn't quite pushed it in all the way at this point):
7. The following shot shows the layout when pulled apart:
8. Then you put the white plastic cover back on (it just snaps on via those 2 tabs):
9. Then you just put the spring housing back where it belongs, ensuring the black plastic thingy lines up with, and slides back onto the shaft. Push each of the 3 supporting legs back into the same holes, and then push the 3 plastic pasts back in (from the outside),
That's it!! Then wind the bloody thing up again (it will start clicking quite early in the winding phase from the mechanism on the other side, but you can ignore this). And don't let it go again!
Regards,
Stuart
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