Shoulder belts need shortened. Any ideas?

[0TreeLemur]

Howdy ya'll,

When we redid the interior, I bought new 3-point belts for the front, so we could move the installed 3-point belts to the back seats.   All that worked fine.   We put in the new push-button style female ends up front to reduce knuckle scrapie when actuating the Jbar.

I measured the old shoulder harnesses, did not go with inertial reels for cost reason.   Now they are just a bit too long to snug up.   I'd like to shorten front and back shoulder harnesses about 4".   The vendor of the new ones says that they will only do the ones they sold, and are really backed up.    That leaves me not getting this done soon, and only the fronts.   Anybody know someone who can do this kind of work?

Thanks,

Fred

[carusoam]

There was a @Yetti around here that knew something about industrial sewing machines... IIRC.

There was a thread about sewing leather bags and parts.

PP guessing at best...

Best regards,

-a- 

[RLCarter]

Any Auto Upholstery shop should be able to re-sew them, more than likely you'll have an issue finding one that will do seatbelts due to liability

[N201MKTurbo]

Get a big needle and a pair of pliers and sew it your self. Get some good strong thread. Didn’t your mom teach you to sew?

[jetdriven]

Sailboaters use something called a roping palm to force the heavy needle and strong thread through many layers of sailcloth. Sailrite has these. Also, boat canvas shops have the heavy duty machines to re-sew a seatbelt end. 

[EricJ]

Since a harness is a critical safety system and the sewing methodologies affect strength and integrity, I'd leave that one for the manufacturer or a shop very knowledgable about the standards (e.g., TSO-C22f).  If the TSO tag applies to the shoulder harness, as opposed to only the lap belt, it has to meet the standard.  There's a fair amount of science and engineering behind how the end stitching is done.    We get race harnesses re-webbed from time to time, but always by the manufacturer.    Just my dos centavos.

[Ross Taylor]

These would work... they are specifically designed for shortening a belt and tested.

 

 

[0TreeLemur]

48 minutes ago, EricJ said:

Since a harness is a critical safety system and the sewing methodologies affect strength and integrity, I'd leave that one for the manufacturer or a shop very knowledgable about the standards (e.g., TSO-C22f).  If the TSO tag applies to the shoulder harness, as opposed to only the lap belt, it has to meet the standard.  There's a fair amount of science and engineering behind how the end stitching is done.    We get race harnesses re-webbed from time to time, but always by the manufacturer.    Just my dos centavos.

I'm not going to sew it, and I'm not asking for a random person who sews.   I'm asking if anyone has a good recommendation for a person or company do this for aircraft seat belts.   As an aviation community, I thought maybe someone has done this recently and can suggest someone I can contact.   My vendor says they are too busy to get to it, and I thought I'd ask.

Re-webbing with my end hardware would suffice.   Regarding the recommendation by @Ross Taylor -  I don't see how that would work on a shoulder belt.    I used those with my kids' car seats back in the day, and it was fine because it was out of the way.  Using one of those clips on a shoulder belt seems like it wouldn't be advisable as it would create a loop that would hang in front of the passenger and represent a hazard. 

[carusoam]

There are a couple of seatbelt suppliers mentioned around MS...

From the airbag to the harness types... 

Sounds like an interesting conversation with them might be fruitful...

Best regards,

-a-

[N201MKTurbo]

You guys are overthinking this on one hand and under thinking it on the other?

One end of the belt has a structural attachment to the airframe, I wouldn’t rework that end in the field. The other end just keeps it from sliding out of the buckle when adjusted and has no structural function at all. That’s the end I would shorten and re-sew.

On the other hand, doing a major alteration of an appliance requires a field approval and a 337 no matter who does it. If you are lucky, the maintenance manual for the belt has the procedure for shortening the belt in which case it is a minor alteration and can be done with a logbook entry. Do you have the manual for the belt?

[Andy95W]

The biggest sticking point is that aircraft seat belts are TSO'ed, which means that whoever works on them will need to understand that TSO document and do the work in accordance with it.  And they'll also have to be willing to be responsible for furnishing documentation that shows compliance.

Could the work be done by any local upholstery shop, or even your home sewing machine?  Sure.  But I think for the relatively low cost, I'd rather have the belts, and the paperwork, be right- IMHO.

[MIm20c]

What attachment points are you using for the shoulder harnesses in the back?

In your situation I’d try to return the two new units and ask for four new shorter ones within a reasonable time frame. 

[pirate]

For my corporate customers and  personal I use 

cmaviationservices.com

aircraft belts.com