Gecko911

I am doing some work on the driver's side front seat belt reel of my '89 C4, and have inadvertantly had the recoil spring and associated parts "spring" to the garage floor in an amazingly rapid manner. So rapid in fact, that I did not get to see them in there native arrangement.

Does anyone have an image or description of how the recoil spring [the spring that causes the reel to recoil/retract the belt back into the mechanism] is mounted inside the seat belt reel mechanism? Specifically: Which way is it wound? How tight does it need to be wound? Which side does the thin washer mount on? How many parts have I still not located on my garage floor...

As a last resort, I can "carefully" take a look inside my passenger side reel, but I am hoping to avoid that if possible.

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Jeff

JasonAndreas

I didn't have much luck winding the spring by hand... Take a large bolt and dremel a slot into the end, and then chuck the bolt in your cordless drill. You can then control the rotation. That was the only way I could get it tight enough.