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Adding Car Seat Latches to Original Rear Seat

JaxLax

Bronco Guru
Joined
Apr 22, 2002
Messages
3,309
Loc.
Jacksonville, FL
As always, I'm going to throw my ideas out here and let y'all bash them into oblivion.

So I'm pondering adding latches to my original rear seat for child seats.

I was on a call where I wasn't needed, so I doodled a first take/thought on how to accomplish it.

I used this patent as a starting point/ideation.

After some quick googling and reading through car seat specs and gov't regs; the only thing I really need to be aware of/worry about is the 65lb limit on the seat restraints. So that's not a huge load to deal with when considering materials.

So below is the doodle.
I made some notes, but my head says it makes sense in general.
Obviously none of the drawing is to scale or all that accurate.

I know the distance between latch points, but not the size of the wire used for it. Maybe I could use U-bolts to remove extra welding (and allow for custom installs when seats aren't the same height/angle) and only need a drill press and they could go all the way through; so you can move them further into the seat or into the fold depending on how often you need to find/use it and it doesn't poke someone in the back.

Maybe add a middle support in the span for the round stock because safety?

Trying to figure out how to get it built easily and structurally strong.

To break down the drawing a little further:
the X's in the top view are the existing seat to floor bolts.
the dots in the top view are the bolts attaching the two pieces of stock (could be welded)

Otherwise tell me where I'm wrong or tell me where hundreds of people are going to want these and I should start building a jig.
 

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lmelmed

Jr. Member
Joined
Sep 24, 2015
Messages
52
I would be interested in this. I attached Britax latch anchors to the existing bolts in the rear floor of the truck and have seen others use D-type anchors to accomplish the same in other cars. Welcome thoughts on that approach but having a properly built Latch system would be preferable.
 

mduenas

Sr. Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2015
Messages
511
Loc.
Los Angeles
I want to put a car seat in my my rig too, what I’m curious about, Can I not use my center lap belt for the car seat?
 
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JaxLax

JaxLax

Bronco Guru
Joined
Apr 22, 2002
Messages
3,309
Loc.
Jacksonville, FL
I would be interested in this. I attached Britax latch anchors to the existing bolts in the rear floor of the truck and have seen others use D-type anchors to accomplish the same in other cars. Welcome thoughts on that approach but having a properly built Latch system would be preferable.

I'm taking the long view since I don't HAVE to get one in there now.
I thought about using the rear bolts and attaching a strap with a correct end (so they'd just fall to the floor/carpet when not in use), but something irked me about it and I wanted a more stout solution.
 
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JaxLax

JaxLax

Bronco Guru
Joined
Apr 22, 2002
Messages
3,309
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Jacksonville, FL
I want to put a car seat in my my rig too, what I’m curious about, Can I not use my center lap belt for the car seat?

Of course you can.
And I have two lap belts for my rear. You can always cinch it down using the lap belt as you would with any other vehicle belt.

Perhaps this is due to the miserable shape of my current rear seat (original plywood and cloth isn't doing so great) and the rear belts are pretty stiff when adjusting. I'm just leery of it and I know I'll be rebuilding it along the way (at least new wood/foam/cloth) so I was trying to find a way to get everything I want so I could get the frame coated or painted at one time.

And personal experience (I've rolled an EB doing 45mph on a paved road) makes me overly leery of cutting any corners when it comes to safety. I'm planning a 2.5" SL or less and still getting a 4 point cage and tying it to the frame with 3pt belts for all passengers. I'm not going to settle unless I exhaust every option until either it's a physical impossibility or it's going to cost more than going to the next level (so a full 8pt cage tied to frame with 5 pt harnesses all around and seats sitting on cage attached risers).
 
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JaxLax

JaxLax

Bronco Guru
Joined
Apr 22, 2002
Messages
3,309
Loc.
Jacksonville, FL
Still thinking about this and it's now back to the front of my head since my wife had to run out the door and had to take the Bronco since I needed a car with car seats in case I had to take the kids somewhere.


Gonna break out the digital calipers and start measuring things in my other cars (depths, thicknesses, etc of all the parts) so I can start to get an idea of the parts I'll need to get this bracket together.
 

Rustytruck

Bronco Guru
Joined
Feb 24, 2002
Messages
10,875
I think you would be better off mounting off the rear seat belt ancor bolts. Their better supported and 7/16"-20 thread. Seat belt mounting points are better engineered and rated for stress. They are designed to hold the passengers and the seat load with a built in safety factor. Much stronger than 4 - 5/16" bolts holding the thin sheetmetal structure of the seat.
 
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JaxLax

JaxLax

Bronco Guru
Joined
Apr 22, 2002
Messages
3,309
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Jacksonville, FL
I think you would be better off mounting off the rear seat belt ancor bolts. Their better supported and 7/16"-20 thread. Seat belt mounting points are better engineered and rated for stress. They are designed to hold the passengers and the seat load with a built in safety factor. Much stronger than 4 - 5/16" bolts holding the thin sheetmetal structure of the seat.

Noted.

Still need to gather all the measurements and then we’ll see how the month can be setup. Maybe I make a U shape (or rectangle minus a long side) bracket and hit all 6 bolts somehow?
 

Jaxgtc

Sr. Member
Joined
May 2, 2016
Messages
520
I am just getting out of the car seat business, but for me it was use the stock seatbelt setup in the rear. I put a towel on the seat and cinched it down good. When installing a car seat, put a knee in the seat and put your weight on it when cinching down and that sucker will not move.

I don't recall if you said you had belts in the back, but you can get OEM style belts and bolts from CJ Pony. If you want to go aftermarket, I have a set that look like new and you are welcome to them.

Ironically the EB belt they list on CJ is not exact. This mustang belt is identical the what my EB came with (see picture of the side by side):

https://www.cjponyparts.com/scott-d...lack-all-1968-1969-convertible-1970/p/SBM10B/

https://www.cjponyparts.com/front-seat-belt-mounting-kit-12-pcs-1969-1973/p/HW1945/

The black covers are not made in the aftermarket. I had to scrounge some used ones.

If Scott Drake or Dennis Carpenter are listening, this would be something good to reproduce!
 

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JaxLax

JaxLax

Bronco Guru
Joined
Apr 22, 2002
Messages
3,309
Loc.
Jacksonville, FL
What about adding to the metal frame of the seat rather than creating a separate bracket?

And Jaxgtc, I do have the stock belts, but their obviously stiff as boards and I'm not sure how structurally strong the fabric remains. Which is one of the reasons I was looking into making the bracket.
 

Scoop

Contributor
Have Bronco, Will Travel
Joined
Feb 1, 2006
Messages
10,582
Loc.
Cuchara, CO
I posted this on my build thread but thought I'd add it to this thread because it's more likely to show up in a search if someone is looking for ideas. I built a simple latch connection point bar that attaches to the stock seat belt attachment point locations. It's made up a 3' long 1 1/2" angle iron with seven 1 1/2" ID rings welded to it. The seatbelts bolt on over the bar using the stock bolts. I used 7 rings for flexibility on where to put the car seat - either side or in the middle. If you know where you always want the seat you probably won't need 7 rings.

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Simple solution but it works well.
 

Eoth

Bronco Guru
Joined
Mar 10, 2004
Messages
1,677
I went the same route as Scoop. Only I don't trust my welds when it comes to "crash forces" so everything is bolted together with a mix of manufactured seat belt pieces and overkill hardware.
I would think twice about attaching child seats to the stock bench since the bench is only held into place with four bolts of fairly mild steel threaded into questionable weld nuts....
 

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broncobsession

Bronco Guru
Joined
Aug 12, 2001
Messages
4,049
Educate me. I don't even know what a car seat latch is! I have l had a sheltered life, apparently.

Newer car seats can either be belted down like the older days or they have these separate latches that attach to mounting points in most modern cars for more seat stability.
 

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SteveL

Huge chevy guy
Joined
Jun 24, 2001
Messages
11,613
Loc.
Hawthorne ca
I just used the lap belts of my rear harnesses to hold the baby seat . When they got into the next size I ran the shoulder straps from the harness thru the upper cut outs in the seats. The eddie bauer seats the plastic was molded for the upper straps instead of just sewn on the cover like most. Also the kids weren't allowed in the rear until there was a family cage.
 
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