OEM Seat Belt mounting methods?

[eporter123]

So I've been crawling around under the Chinook trying to figure out how the factory mounted the original seat belts.

The front passenger side dinette has three long threaded studs sticking up through the floor. Underneath the chinook, they're covered in a lump of fiberglass. I'm assuming there's a large washer there?

I saw this photo in a thread about adding a safe. Note the steel tubing with the seat belts bolted to it. I believe the tubing was then through-bolted through the floor? Those bolts are removed on mine, so I'm not sure what they did.

On the driver's side, I still have the lap belt mounting points inside, with a threaded stud/bolt sticking up with the seatbelts bolted on. Does anyone know how those are held on below?

I plan on adding some seating with integrated seat belts. My plan is to add a large steel plate on top of the floor, and flat 1/4"x3"x12" steel bars/plate below. This could also tie into the body mounting bolt steel hat channels. I have to think that the 2" plywood floor, plus the sandwich of steel plate and steel bars, will be as strong as anything else in the RV, if not stronger than the factory installation.

http://superior-seats.com/media/uploads ... ie_Big.jpg

The type of seat w/ integrated seat belt:



I've got some of these rounded attachment plates:

[Colorider]

Keep us updated on your solutions. I'm in the process of figuring out a way to frame mount an additional seat belt for a child safety seat. I'm considering using the stock mounting points from the front seats to add latch points for a rear facing seat between the driver and passenger. That way I know that it was Ford who designed the mounts and not Chinook.

[Colorider]

any progress?

[eporter123]

I've got several two-person 36" wide Transit seats and track in the Chinook right now, but I'm having a hard time making a layout that works. One is a 31" double that's not very comfy unless you're a kid... The problem w/ the transit seats is that the support legs are offset. SO, if I try to have two seats face each other, the tracks need to be offset. Would be nice if I could just install one long track, like airplane L-track or similar. It would also be nice if I could flip the seat behind the passenger from forwards-facing to dinette, but again the offset bases fight this. AND, I'd like the seats to have enough spacing between them such that the space could double as a bed, like the stock dinette.

A couple questions:
-Is the stock dinette ~72" from dinette cushion back to back? I found a drawing online that seems to show this.
-How is the rear dinette seat supported over the wheelwell? I can't find any good pics. The problem for me, is that I can't mount to the floor in that area as there's the raised wheelwell and that's just thin fiberglass.

My plan on mounting would be ~.120 steel plate on the floor, with the seats on top of that, and 1/2" bolts running through the floor. Then on the bottom I'd add 1/4" plate/bar.

I think for just adding seatbelts, the large plate and bolt combo would work great.

[eporter123]

Tahoe/Yukon/Suburban seats are looking interesting. They're 25" wide, and fold flat. So not as wide as the 36" dinette seats, but still comfortable for an adult and can fold flat to double as a bed. 25" isn't super wide, but it's about the size of a camping pad.

[Colorider]

On my rig, the rear dinette seat is sitting on top of the wheel well, but there are no screws holding it in the downward direction. It has wood screws holding it to the oven/stove cabinet through it's back and wood screws into the RV wall.

I should say that the PO extended the dinette by shortening the counter space on the stove top. I think he gained about 6 inches. I'm not certain what the measurement is but my dinette bed pretty much matches the length of the sofa.

[eporter123]

Interesting on the mount... that would help it bridge the non-load-bearing wheelwell fiberglass. I have to keep remembering not to step on it. Do you also have the metal seat belt bracket that's pictured in that first post?

[Colorider]

nope. It's a bit ridiculous. The seatbelts are anchored with heavy duty bolts to the plywood box that makes the dinette bench which (as referenced above) are merely held in by wood screws. Hence my child safety seat issues. That's why I'm thinking that I'll mount the seat in the cab between the driver and passenger. moving around will be a pain, but at least I can access metal parts that are engineered by Ford and not the carpenters at Chinook.

[eporter123]

Ahh... that all makes sense now. I've read some things online about not making the seatbelt stronger than the furniture. You don't want the belt and a body holding the dinette in...

There are a lot of seating options with integrated seatbelts (ISS). I found one of them locally on CL. I'm thinking I may just use it, and buy a swivel base from the original manufacturer. If I put a swivel on the passenger seat as well, I can maybe slide the table in between pass. seat and added swivel seat...? Less window views while eating, but that probably won't matter most of the time.

http://www.superior-seats.com/iss-seating

Seat belts and older (and newer) RVs... a gray area indeed.

[Blue~Go]

Just as another data point: I have the Club Lounge layout. This consists of two box bases (~24" x 24" x 12") upon which two Flexsteel club chairs sit (they have swivels and go forward and back, but are not for sitting in underway). So, the box bases are what is "anchored." The aft box base sits partially over the wheelwell. The way it works is this:

1) The box is built of 1" x 1" framing with 1/2" plywood panels.
2) The upper outboard 1x1 framing piece is screwed to the 1/8" thick wall paneling.
2) The 1x1 strips that do contact the floor are screwed to the floor (but of course that's not all the way around cause of the wheelwell).
3) The upper aft strip is screwed to the stove wall (which is... erm... not screwed to that much).

So how does it work? Well, fine, but it's the sum of the parts. For example, the stove counter upper aft edge is screwed to some plywood pieces that are polyester resin bonded to the outer shell. And it's also connected to the main bulkhead between the stove and fridge (the strongest wall). So then the forward stove wall that's a little wimpy because it straddles the wheel well, is made a bit stronger. Then the box is screwed to that. Plus the floor is strong. Etc. etc. It's basically the story of the bundle of sticks that you can't break all at once.

That said, would I attach a seat belt to it? Oh heck no. But it's probably strong enough to keep the Club chairs out of one's back in many situations.

I know you're not proposing using this type of construction for your anchored seats, but since you wondered how the dinette was attached, I figured this might be of interest.

BG

PS: No idea if they are strong enough for your use, but there are the body-to-frame bolts. Even if you don't want to use them, you might want to check that they are still tight. I'll be doing something with some of mine when I re-do my floor (maybe sub elevator bolts for the ones in the open area).