Getting tired of all my questions yet????? Just wait till I have to put it back together

There has to be a nut in the seat belt retractor mechanism because the bolt head just turns in circles. There is nothing in any of the books I have. How do you open the plastic housing while it is in the rear pocket in order to locate the nut?

Or am I all wrong (again!). Both sides have the same issue.

Thanks much again

 

Hi..you should be able to remove plastic case by putting your thumb on top of casing and then push plastic case down and with 2 fingers un hook plastic casing by pulling bottom down and out ..........good luck......

 

mk1leg,

All I can manage to do is get my finger tips caught in the plastic underneath and it hurts like a SOB when your fingers are pinched. I know that if I could see what I needed to do it is probably going to a be "duh!" moment.

PIX anyone????

 

Just the one bolt/nut at the bottom. You can reach right in the pocket and get a wrench on it and a socket on the front side. That is if yours is the same style.


By the way don't let it suck in all of the belt cause mine locked up and won't release it.

 

Still not getting anywhere with the seat belt retractor. It is a Kangol Euroflex V according to the label and I cannot find any information on it on the internet.

Here are some pix of how it is mounted in the pocket. The first pic is looking down in the pocket. The bolt goes into the pocket from the exterior side to the left of this picture.



This picture is taken from the right side of the pocket as shown above looking back to the retractor....



This last picture is from the bottom of the pocket looking up at the underside of the retractor.



I do not see anything to put a wrench on other than the bolt head outside the pocket. The bolt head just turns so if there is a captive nut inside the retractor it is not attached to anything.

The retractors do not lock when you pull the seatbelt forecfully; however, they do recoil the belt when it is pulled from the reel.

Any help is appreciated. These items are the only thing left in the car and stand between me and the bodyshop...........

 

That definitely different from mine then. The bolt is open at the bottom at the front of mine and bolts directly to the pocket. I don't have the round painted piece it attaches to.

 

Anyone with any ideas....? I am probably going to have to cut the bolt head off!

 

i would cut it or drill through it untill it breaks free, i have not seen a seat belt like that before...im assuming that someone added that somewhere down the road.......hopefully you can just drop a new bolt through it, that will only cost you .49 cents at a local hardware store...always cut carefully !!!!

 

I have been searching every Mini thread I can find. I found 1 owner with the same seat belt and the same problem. There was no solution posted. Looks like its time to start drilling or cutting!

Thanks for all the help!

 

There might be a captive nut that's spinning around -in other words, no longer captive...

 

Don't use cheap hardware store nuts and bolts for a seatbelt attachment - otherwise what's the point of having them? Buy a proper grade 8 or better bolt from a nut and bolt place like Fastenal.........

And I think Madoc is right, there's a nut inside of that cone shaped part that's held by a couple of sheet metal tangs, they've been bent out of the way because someone used too much force to tighten it and the nut is turning. I'll bet that bolt is a shoulder bolt, and someone thought they should tighten it till the retractor didn't move anymore, but the retractor is upposed to be able to pivot on the bolt. Cutting off the head will free up the retractor, but you still have to get inside that cone to get the nut off - you might find stripped threads too.

 

The Kangol Euroflex V mystery is no more. A neighbor (ex GM service mechanic) came over with an air compressor and a hi speed impact wrench to take a turn at removing the retractors. The first one would not do anything other than turn - even with a pry bar to put some leverage on the unit and hopefully provide some grip. The second one with some encouraging bursts on the wrench, pressure from a pry bar, and a cranked up air pressure came off.

However, it still looked like grinding the bolt was the only solution for #2.

As I poked around determined to find out how to access what appeared to be an injection molded housing with no means of entry and find the secret access to the internal nut, I discovered the following:

This retractor unit....



Could be persuaded to look like this......



No captive nut - just a simple access hole nicely concealed on the lower front of the unit - invisible in the dark recess of a Mini rear pocket.

For all those that follow - I hope that you find this thread when you reach this position

Of course, now that I have the units in hand, the retractors have now magically fixed themselves and they now actually lock when pulled quickly and then release

End of story, onwards with the rebuild, and off to the bodyshop