Stuck Lap Belt
Melting Slicks
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 3,161
Likes: 239
From: Southern CALIFORNIA
if it works out of the car, maybe they are mounted wrong. im not sure about 74 vettes but the retract lock mechanism is desinged to only work on certain angles. if it is oriented wrong the inner ratchet lock will not engage/disengage properly. good luck
Intermediate
Joined: Sep 2018
Posts: 43
Likes: 6
From: SoCal
I just went through this with my '73. There is a "cam" on the retractor spring that times the free rotation before it ratchets. Off the car mine worked well but that was because the timing had slipped and only allowed it to pull freely when the belt was further in than when installed. It's the orange ring on the spring, so remove the retractor (again), remove the clear spring cover and rotate the orange ring until it works properly. Make sure the ratchet bar can move back and forth easily. Some trial and error will be required.
Last edited by Its_hers; Oct 11, 2018 at 09:18 PM.
