i have a friend that owns a shop that makes...rachet straps. he had some webbing the color and size to fit my buckles. he just cut the webbing to the legnth i needed and sewed the buckles on. ...this is not legal in all states...and Ga. is one it ain't. ...
My mom was a seemstress and she used to get a little crazy with her sewing machine purchases. Long story short she would buy any machine see would see. That included some heavy duty ones that were used in the industrial industry. If you ever go to an interior shop look at the machines they use, its those types. If you try to use a regular sewing machine on that type of material the needle will bind every time, they just dont have the strenght or something.
I saw an old 1920 (or older) foot pump Singer sewing machine converted to electric with a windshield wiper motor at the trim shop. The owner said the only part that he has ever broken was the needle. He went on telling me about how many new industrial sewing machines he wore out.
My mom had one of those cast iron foot ones. I dont know the date though, it also had an electric motor conversion. The only thing that i recall every breaking was the belt. But thats a five minute fix. Unfortunately it got ruined during a rain storm, the shed that it was in got flooded and the whole machine seized.
There's more than time and material associated with making seat belts. You need to be certified and audited by the federal DOT to manufacture or even modify seat belts. Every seat belt is supposed to have a sticker or stamp identifying the manufacturer or whoever worked on it. Sh!t will hit the fan hard if someone is injured or killed because of using uncertified materials/manufacturers. I got a lesson in that when my T-bird had a frayed driver's side belt that wouldn't pass state safety inspection. It was easy to get new webbing that matched mine but no business would sew the the buckle and anchor onto the new webbing. Tried various upholstery shops, etc. That's when it was explained to me why they wouldn't touch it. I finally cheated and took the pieces to a local shoe repair place and told them it was a strap for a roof rack, LOL. Their sewing actually looked stronger than the original.
well i got the belts in but the only thing i dont like about them is that the retractor doesnt fit into the housing so they stick out and my seat hit them so ill deal with it now but i want it replaced
Buy the belts. I paid about the same thing for mine and I never put much stock in being that anal about it until my kid was born. My belts were frayed and I couldn't bring myself to put her in the factory belts and have the worst happen to me or her. Even if I could put a price on my head, I won't put one on hers. when I was researching them, I found out that they actually recommend replacement of any old belts showing any sign of damage, sunfading, discoloration, fraying, seam splitting, etc. I think mine had all of those issues.
I put mine behind the quarter trim panel with a finish piece from the wife's expedition... shhhhh, don't tell her...
Because they can! Think about it...how many people ever change the belts in their cars? For most...NEVER. And if they do, it's probably only a one-time thing. Let's face it...it's webbing...nothing more. No exotic material, or even highly specialized skill in making them. None of these things are sewn by hand anymore...the patterns and stitch counts are mandated by the gov't...and programmed into the machines to produce them. It's simply a racket...like most other things now days. Why should your belts cost that much when you can plop open a Jegs or Summit catalog and get a set for a "race car" that are perfectly acceptable for cars going 150 mph and pay only $70 or so? You can certainly pay much more...but basic belts run around this price. The "race belts" are wider (more material) and certainly stitched to the highest standard our gov't requires by some of the finest 7 year old craftsmen Pakistan/Mexico/Taiwan/India/China have to offer. It's simply supply and demand...and regulations, like those mentioned in the post above...not everyone seeks or can get those coveted gov't approvals to manufacture these, or many other, things. To most...it's not worth the hassle to jump through the hoops required...so...we end up having to pay through our collective as*** well, you know...for something that literally costs next to nothing to manufacture. You know...pretty much like most other things...
I think at that age they would be running the mills and lathes. I thought the 5 year olds got the sewing machine jobs. Is the workmanship quality really stepping up on these parts?
