Seat belt fastener removeal

[Iron Ranger]

Now, in my 92 ranger, I've tried to take out the seatbelt torx head bolts with the impact torxs bit, but all I did was strip or break bits.

I'm drilling out the head of one of them now, but it seems even the head on these things are hardened steel, where as the center is not(I was able to drill down the exact center of this torx fastener.)

Am I missing something? Or are the fasteners simply rusted shut to the point that I gotta get out the cutoff wheel without charring my carpet?

I'm talking about the fasteners that bolt the seatbelt to the floor and I'm doing this to remove everything(carpet including) to apply sound deadening material.

Thank you!

 

[4x4junkie]

Ford uses Loctite on those.
Did you try heating them with a torch? I did this on mine and they came right out (though mine didn't have severe amounts of rust on them).

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

Warm em up underneath with a torch, as Junkie said they are loctighted in there.

 

[Iron Ranger]

I don't wanna melt the carpet by warming it up too much, but I gave it a shot and it's still not budging to much. Then again, all my torx bits that size are shot. So I'll have to get some more impact bits while I let the fasteners soak up some penetrating oil for a few days.

I'll let you know how that turns out.

 

[BlueChariot]

I'm surprised the Loctite wasn't metnioned in the Bucket Conversion article in the tech library, would be a helpful thing to know you're gonna run into.

Heat or a grinder and lots of drilling seems to be the only solution here.

 

[Iron Ranger]

I'm surprised the Loctite wasn't metnioned in the Bucket Conversion article in the tech library, would be a helpful thing to know you're gonna run into.

Heat or a grinder and lots of drilling seems to be the only solution here.

That's what I did to the driver's side bolt. Cut off the head, removed the belt, pulled back the carpet, drilled through to the bottom of the bolt, and grabbed a small monkey wrench and managed to loosen/remove it that way.

I'm gonna try to drill to the bottom of the other one first just to see if the torx bits will be able to loosen it at all....

 

[snoopdoggie]

Forget the impact gun. Just try a breaker bar with a cheater on it. Steady pressure may move it better than the hammering of the impact.
I have removed several this way without heating them.

 

[RangerBoy94]

Mine came out easy and didn't look like there was any locktight on it at a time. nWhile your taking the seats out you mine as welll take out your carpet and clean it while its dirty. I did it to mine and boy it looks so much better

 

[Iron Ranger]

Good news boys.... 2 more bits broke and the head stripped out.


Luckly, Mr.Monkeywrench has saved the day!

 

[racsan]

i pulled some seatbelts out of a merc sable just today with no issues, and the car had ben sitting in a swampy junkyard for at least the last 2 months to boot. guess i got lucky. i did use a 1/2 drive breaker bar though, then the 3/8 long-handle ratchet one they were broke loose.

 

[chad333]

Forget the impact gun. Just try a breaker bar with a cheater on it. Steady pressure may move it better than the hammering of the impact.
I have removed several this way without heating them.

That's how mine came out. They didn't have too much rust on them, and I was unaware of the Loctite.