3/4 pt harness attachment

RatLabGuy

RatLabGuy

You look like a monkey and smell like one too
Joined
May 18, 2005
Location
Churchville, MD
I'd like to add some harnesses to the 4runner, but w/o an internal rollbar and having back seats to get to, there isn't much to attach the top strap(s) to.
I don't really need the harneeses most of the time, just for e.g. 4x4Cross etc, so I'm thinking quick-connects are the way to og, and use the stock lap/shoulder most of teh time.

I'm considering either attaching at the bolt wherere the rear laps connect, or maybe make a cross-bar for the stock rollbar wheret hre threads are and bolt to it. This eliminates use of back seats, but right now I don't antipate having backseat passengers any time that would necessitate a harness. Thoughts?
 
they have harnesses that are floor mount so the straps are long enough to reach the floor behind your seat. Maybe that would work for minimal use?
 
I'm with Rob on this one. Since the wheeling will be minimal and it won't have stress on it all the time, buy harness that mount to the floor. If you buy a Y-Link you will only have to attach one strap for the shoulder belts for each seat and they won't be in the way.
 
See that's what I was thinking, maybe even just mount to either (a) the bolts holding the seat in or (b) the same bolts holding the lap belts in.
However I've read several places online that say the angle should be 45 deg or more, otherwise the stress (in event of needing it) is downward vs backward - not good for teh spine. That makes sense to me, but at the same time, here we aren't talking about 45 (or like racing, 90+) mph crashes either. I need it more to keep me down in the seat than flying forward
 
90* vs 45*, either way, to keep you in the seat and not slide out the force will be downward on your shoulders anyway. I guess you could tighten your shoulders tighter to the seat at 45* but you'll still have downward force. And as you said, its not as if you are going 120MPH when needing the harnesses.

Going back to my SAE Baja days, IIRC, the rules wanted the harnesses pulling down on the shoulders to keep you from coming out of the seat. It wasn't fast racing, but could reach 35mph at times.
 
Every one of the harness mfrs and sanctioning bodies "strongly" suggest you mount it ~5-15* below the shoulders, otherwise you're risking spinal compression.

If you're not going to do it correctly then why even do it at all? Just use the stock belts.

:edit: The 45* is for the lap belts.
 
braxton357 said:
Every one of the harness mfrs and sanctioning bodies "strongly" suggest you mount it ~5-15* below the shoulders, otherwise you're risking spinal compression.

If you're not going to do it correctly then why even do it at all? Just use the stock belts.
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this is true and spinal compression is nothing you want to play with. I've done tons of research on harness mounting and am just now getting around to doing mine.
 
I had this same conversation with MUD last night. His roadcourse rule books from years back stated a small angle downward like stated above. He also said in yrs past many manufacturers web sights were very helpful. I was about to make a fairly elaborate mounting bar when he sugested going to the back wall of my extended cab (similar to your rear roll bar idea). Approx 15 Degrees below shoulder height. My harness are a Y design on top and like MUD said with the extra lenght losening them to slip out of will be a breeze, with the Y they really can't get over my head rest and get out of shape either.
 
Can they be mounted too high? E.g., what about the ceiling behind them? b/c of the holes in the back of the racing seat, the straps would still be held down near the shoulders, but the pull would then be on teh fornt of the hsoulders instead of the top (like if floor mounted).
I realized on te h4Runner, tehre are bolt holes accessible in the backside of the cabin roof where the fiberglass shell mounts. Mounting there would keep from occluding the back seat.

Otherwise, I think I'll make a crossbar for the factory rollbar just above the back seats and bolt to that.
 
scratch using the bolts in teh ceiling, the angle would never work - plus their just really small (m8) bolt holes.
So, I'm going w/ a bar across right behind the rear seats, bolting to that.

Now... how much flack owuld I get for using a chunk of say sch 80 pipe for that? I know the whole debate against pipe for cages etc, but we're not talking alot of force here, since harnesses only used for specific cases that would never be (relatively) high speeds
 
I used pipe, works fine for cheap, disregard the flack! Oooooooooooops, now that it's out, I'll probably have to deal with it :)
 
JC said:
I used pipe, works fine for cheap, disregard the flack! Oooooooooooops, now that it's out, I'll probably have to deal with it :)
Click to expand...

I figured if I painted it well, nobody would know anyway ;-)
 
Well I got the Corbeau 3-pt style that comes to a Y in teh back - they have a cool "double release" mechanism so you can disconnect the rear strap like a belt.

Turns out on a 1st get Runner, the rear seatbelt holes that are already in the factory rollbar are *just* within reach of the straps, and a decent angle - so no extra crossbar needed. Maybe I'll snap a pic later.
 
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