Installing Kid's Car Seats in 1988 GMC Jimmy

[Sids_88Jimmy]

Hello everyone,

I just signed up here on CK5. It is something I have wanted to do when I first started building my 88 Jimmy with my dad 10 years ago.

I am looking to install some kids car seats into the back seat of the Jimmy. However, the problem I am seeing is the two automatic side lap belts do not keep the seats tight because the tongue on the side sits too high. My thought on this is to make mounting plates with eye bolts and sandwhich them to the floorboard in the back of the truck to use the latch system the kids car seats come with. I know there are many people on this site who have way more experience than I do, so I wanted to see if I can get some ideas from you all.

Thank you for having me!

 

[HankScorpio]

Does an '88 have just the lap belt or the shoulder belt that bolts into the hard top?
My '90 had the shoulder belt but when I took the hard top off I needed another option. I now run a Tahoe seat with integrated shoulder belts.
Get the good, forged eye bolts that cant bend open if you add another attachment point for the kids seats.

 

[Sids_88Jimmy]

Does an '88 have just the lap belt or the shoulder belt that bolts into the hard top?
My '90 had the shoulder belt but when I took the hard top off I needed another option. I now run a Tahoe seat with integrated shoulder belts.
Get the good, forged eye bolts that cant bend open if you add another attachment point for the kids seats.

Hi,

Thank you for the reply man. Yea my 88 only has the lap belts. the two sides are automatic and the center one is a normal manual lap belt you pull on.

 

[HankScorpio]

If you pull the auto belt all the way out it will lock and then you can tighten up the child seat. I like to get my knee into the child seat so I can really force it down into the seat foam and get any slack out of the belts. If the plastic sleeve on the belt is too tall you could trim it back.
There are also good options out there for replacement aftermarket lap belts that are just adjustable without the retractor.

 

[Sids_88Jimmy]

If you pull the auto belt all the way out it will lock and then you can tighten up the child seat. I like to get my knee into the child seat so I can really force it down into the seat foam and get any slack out of the belts. If the plastic sleeve on the belt is too tall you could trim it back.
There are also good options out there for replacement aftermarket lap belts that are just adjustable without the retractor.

Awesome I will look into this! Thank you!

 

[imiceman44]

I found that seatbelts are not the best to secure a child seat.
Fortunately my kids grew up before I was done with my rig, a solid attachment point using g the supplied straps to hook up are the better option in my humble opinion.

 

[Blue85]

I think the seat belts all bolt to the back seat. It should be possible to remove the "backwards" blazer belts and put in standard ones that are all soft. Then you can change it back later when the kids get older.

It might also work to unbolt the belts and fabricate a latch mount running behind the seat, with the current belt mounts as the attachment points. I agree that drilling holes in the floor for eye bolts might be the easiest, but you may regret those holes in the floor later and if you want to pull the seat for cargo at some point, they will be in the way.

They do make a "bed bolt" that is a threaded insert you put in the bed, giving you something to thread eyebolts in when you need them and remove when you don't. At any rate, be sure to add some reinforcement on the back side of the sheet metal.

I also wonder if you could pass straps through the seat (like the seatbelts do) and wrap them all the way around the seat base, back or both.

 

[EvilGenius]

This is what I plan on using with my pickups bench seat.

https://a.co/d/0hzmvWq0