Seat Belt Pretensioner Repair - Final Update Must Read

Is it a picture color that shows your new seatbelts beige while the regenerated were grey?

 

That’s just the lighting. When I remove the drivers side seat belt I’ll take a picture of them side by side.

 

I had to replace my drivers side, with factory belt. It had snagged on my cell phone velcro tab and shredded about 8 inches when I tried to pull it lose. Dam these new seat belts are expensive as hell, but now I have a new belt that actually retracts now when I get out of the truck.

 

RysiuM, after receiving the drivers side seat belt, I agree with you 100%. If you look at the picture below of the drivers side seat belt, you can see the fraying on the edges which I'm sure contributes to it retracting slowly.
The passengers side seat belt works better since sending off for the repair, but there isn't the fraying on the edges since it's not used nearly as much.
Back to RysiuM's comment above on #2.......Agree. You forget how nice and firm your new seat belt was until you actually get a new one. Sort of like shocks. They gradually wear out, and you really don't notice a difference until you purchase a new set.

 

A dirty/stiff seat belt limits the retraction here the most I find.

 

i must take a jewelers loupe to see if there is much fraying in mine
probably is...

 

Like I wrote the issue with retraction is a interaction between "swollen" dirty belt (not necessary frayed badly) that is not "silky slick" anymore and three gaps that belt must go though:
- The hasp must fall freely down when the belt is retracting. Otherwise it will go all the way up and lock at upper belt mount.
- The upper belt mount has quite narrow slot and belt must turn almost 180 degrees at that very sharp turn. If belt is stiff it will not make that turn on its own (this is where the "feeding" helps)
- Inside the "rolling" mechanizm there is very narrow gap the belt must go though. The locking mechanizm works this way that when seat belt is locking during deceleration that gap is closed by some lever actuated by the mechanizm. At least it is in my "non piro" belt (without pre-tensioner). I found that metal lever creates quite some drag on swollen belt.

 

@jammer this may be of interest of what a long time Toyota mechanic recently told me about the seatbelts used in these trucks and why they do not last long as one would expect
some of the plastics in the mechanism are very sensitive to extreme heat!?! ... I must've damaged my belts very early after i got my truck in either summer of '97 or '98 parked out in the very hot KCMO blister. I know for fact my cab was HOT AF that day because the $300 portable stereo system that I carried with me on the road all the time, I came back out to the lot after job to find the retractable lid on that stereo all warped and not smooth anymore i had left it on the passenger seat and even had a reflective sunshade in the windshield with tinted windows on the sides and it still heated up so bad

 

yet another place that can possibly fix the retracting problem
another TW user claims they do good

https://www.safetyrestore.com/seat-belt-repair-service/9-seat-belt-repair.html

says lifetime warranty as well somewhere on their page