Front seat belts 73 vs 74 b body

[73RR4SPD]

Good day everyone,

I was just talking to Bill Edwards from Seatbelts.com. I’m wanting to put the 74 3 point retractable seatbelts into my 73 RR that didn’t come with the retractable shoulder belt.
Do I need to do any additional welding of brackets to accommodate the 74 system?

 

[Ron_M]

FWIW I advise against it. I have both years and I can tell you from personal experience that the 74 setup is very cumbersome and notably famous for jamming at the worst possible time. There are no vendors that I know of that are willing to rebuild these. Parts are not easy to come by and if you do find retractors they are commonly broken.
My advice is use the 73 setup with the shoulder strap. Much better design. 74 Chrysler hurriedly incorporated the new system and it is not reliable.

 

[73RR4SPD]

Well Ron,

that is very helpful information, thank you.

do you have any other vendors you’d recommend to restore my current setup besides the one I mentioned?


Thanks again Ron

 

[Ron_M]

Unfortunately not at this time .15 years ago I have investigated one vendors 3 point system into my 74 and after fumbling with it determined it was not a bolt in and ended up selling it at a loss. I forget who made it. IIRC, the retractors mount behind lower seat panel and we're bigger than the space allowed. I ended up adding a shoulder strap using some junk retractors that I had just to keep the cops off my back.
Hopefully someone has more recent experience. I replied to save you a lot of pain with the 74 setup. Nothing sucks more taking a loved for a ride and having the retractors jam. Been there done that!

 

[73RR4SPD]

Appreciate the feedback.

Bill Edwards who just does MoPaR seatbelts said they’re a pain in the butt to recondition but he’s done at least a couple of them for 74 b bodies.
Based on your response, I’ll stick with the std 73 system.

 

[Ron_M]

Im not familiar with him or his work so this is news to me. If he can assure reliability band you want that kind of setup, I would research some more. My experience is 15 years old, and a lot has changed in that time. Hopefully some more people respond so you can make a sound judgement.
You will need the 74 only rear seat lower panels as they are different having a removable Pavel to access the retractor.
To me, I feel the 73 system with the shoulder belt is just as effective if not better than the 74. You just have to latch the shoulder belt to the male buckle of the floor retractor. 74 it's all in one.