Seat Belt Retractor Issues

So the other day I had some spare time so I figured I would try and fix my lazy seat belt retractors on my taco.

I pulled out passenger side first, and after fighting with the task of pulling out all the seat belt to be able to re-tension the spring and having the belt get all tangled up in the retractor, I had to remove the side cover (yea,the one that says don't remove) and pull out the ball and lever locks the seat belt out to untangle the mess. I was eventually able to re-tension the spring and I put everything back together and got the seat belt to work normally, but it didn't rewind any quicker.

The attempt on the drivers side went smoothly and I was able to re-tension the retractor, but again it didn't help the cause.

Today, I get in my truck and my passenger seat belt is completely locked and I can't pull it out (driver side still works normally).

So my question is what have you guys done to deal with your seat belts? I know alot of people say to wash the belt, I didn't try that yet because the passenger side looks clean and although the driver side is a bit dirty I figured re-tensioning the spring would make the biggest difference.

Any thoughts on what to do about the passenger seat belt?

Thanks in advance for any help

A new seat belt assembly is big money, has anyone tried the companies who rebuild them for around 60 bucks?

 

just like any spring they will wear out over time. retensioning the spring will only work for a little while. wash the belt and some have added teflon tape to the upper piece that connects to the pillar. some have gotten lucky with finding pick-a-part belts but new/refurb is probably in your better interests

 

$200 fixed mine. I did all you did and had the same results.

 

Thanks for the help guys, I will give cleaning and the teflon a try and if its still bad after that I will looking to some rebuilt or new retractors