Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Inertia seat belt stuck, 2001 +8

Apologies if this has been discussed before, please redirect me if necessary. My 2001 +8 passenger-side inertia seat-belt is stuck in a semi-retracted position , and will not feed out. It has been temperamental in the past, but now completely stuck. The spool /drum (?) only moves about a quarter of an inch either way. Access, as discussed on previous threads, is tricky, as the unit was obviously bolted on to the ash frame before the body went on. I can get my hand on the drum via the spare-wheel well, and it reluctantly moves a little, but the ratchet (?) will not release. The car is completely level.
I have initially tried to correct the issue in situ, by tapping the unit via a metal rod while jiggling the belt, but to no avail. Perhaps I am tapping the wrong bit, but I dont want to damage the plastic housing? Would it help to attempt to spray silicone lubricant into the unit, via a plastic straw nozzle extension, and if so where should i target, given the current access limitations? I assume the ratchet mechanism is to one side of the belt spool, so the silicone might not reach it?
If that doesn't work, do I need to remove the vertical wooden carpeted bulkhead panel to gain better access, and how is that held in place? I assume that panel can be leaned forwards with the belts still in place (there would be sufficient play in the stuck belt to do this), or will I need to unbolt both seatbelt forward anchorages and feed through in order to remove the panel completely?
I have read that unbolting the inertia unit is very fiddly (bent spanner involved?) so is it possible to rectify the problem without taking it out?
Any advice would be much appreciated!
Cheers, Ashley

Don't lubricate it and don't try to strip it down. If you get the side cover off and release the spring it's almost impossible to reassemble.

If you can recline the seat, it makes things easier, but the trick is to retract the belt slightly in order to release the ratchet.Try lifting the front of the car slightly.

Something: long, flat and slim….hacksaw blade, steel ruler, even a kitchen butter knife…?
Slide it in through the slot behind the seats until it hits the reel then jiggery pokery to try and rotate the reel backwards a little.

I am known for typing rubbish at times, and my retracting seat belt system on my mid 80`s +8 may be totally different from yours.

There is a small pendulum affair inside the belt mechanism thus the angle that MY seat belt holder relative to vertical can have an effect on both retraction and extension. if the pendulum has been triggered by being off plum AND the belt being tugged to attempt to extend it, it seems likely that the pendulum may have engaged the locking mechanism, as it is expected to do so in a collision...

There may be a chance that if you loosen the bolt holding the seat belt holder and adjust it`s angle perhaps giving the mechanism a sharp tap, or series of taps to hopefully cause the pendulum to reset and release the locking mechanism.

Best of luck in resolving your issue.

OK, here's my take.

Your dealing with something which could save your life or at the very least stop you spending the rest of your life in a wheelchair.

Wouldn't take a chance on trying to fix it yourself so just unbolt the whole thing and send it off to Quickfit Safety Belt Services and get them to service it

Arwyn

Completely agree re the safety issue Arwyn.
However, I probably still need to get the unit out (unless I can free it up in situ), and I'd rather do that myself than let my local garage have a go, as they probably have never done this before either.
So, if it frees up in the process that's a bonus, but what's the best approach to access it with a view to removal, and subsequent (professional) repair or replacement.?

Have you checked that the fixing bolts haven't loosened allowing the unit to move ? they have to be perfectly level to work.

Burgandymog, seems we think alike to some degree as per my post on the subject... (-:

Also fully support Arwyn`s thinking relative to safety, and the idea of providing encouragement for folks of unknown skill levels to work on their own machinery and equipment can lead to tragic circumstances in some instances. Over many years I have unfortunately seen loss of life in the workplace as the result of not working to H&S requirements, and much else.

I am guilty of being the child of the make do and mend generation, and with limited funds could not have hoped to own a machine of my own as a yoof, unless I found one that had been used and abused and left as virtual scrap, which brought it within the range of my pocket.. (-: I put a lot of time and effort into fumbling around trying to gain information from anywhere, in the hope of bringing some usable life back into it, which was not as easy in the pre interweb days... and today there may still be those prepared to take some degree of risk to repair their machine, given the possible precurser to any attempt at a repair by a dealership may result in a circa £200 session in the dialogue bay, before any attempt is made to effect a repair....!

As ever each to their own....

i would like to attach a photo of the offending unit, but the attachment manager says file size is limited to 1000bytes (1kb?) Is that right, or am I doing it wrong?
Sorry, but I haven't uploaded before

Meanwhile, in the absence of a photo, I will try to explain:

As I understand it, the belt probably is stuck in a retracted position because the ball-bearing mechanism is stopping a lever disengaging from a ratchet?
Some advisors recommend that the car must be flat and level, so the ball-bearing can allow disengagement, while others recommend raising the front or rear, while wiggling the belt.
I have tried all angles, to no avail so far.
I can get my hand on the reel unit, but the reel seems very reluctant to go backwards, it moves maybe 1/4 inch, stiffly, but that limited rotation is not freeing the ratchet stop.

Peering at it sideways via the spare-wheel well, the drum unit is seated on the horizontal part of a metal L-shape bracket. There is an obvious nut beneath the rear of that bracket, the bolt seems to attach to the rear of the reel unit. Is that the only one, and will undoing that nut enable me to withdraw the unit, having unbolted the forward seat belt-anchor, and fed the belt etc through the bulkhead slot?

I will post a photo if someone could advise how to do so? Many thanks