Whenever I go w/o doors on my JK (a near constant state for me from mid-May through mid-September), the bottom portion or "slack side" of the shoulder belts flap in the wind to the point of being really irritating.

After pondering radical (and illegal) solutions such as eliminating the shoulder belts in favor of only a lap belt, I came up with an easy workaround yesterday afternoon in the driveway.

I'll describe the very simple fix -which is FREE, btw- followed by photos. Takes about five minutes start to finish and now, 24 hours later, the mod seems to be w/o a down side.

To do the mod:

1. Carefully pry the plastic trim panel covering the lower section of the seat belt off. Pull from the top and rear; the lower, forwardmost trim retainer doesn't have to be removed (so the panel itself never comes free and clear of the interior).
2. Route the belt inside the plastic panel from the rear.
3. Guide the belt in front of the uppermost trim retainer before preparing to reinstall the panel.
4. Carefully line up the 'Dammits' (a technical term for the plastic trim retainers we all love to hate), firmly push the panel back into place, and voila! You're done.

If you did it right, the belt retraction mechanism maintains sufficient "pulling power" to retract the belts when you disconnect them, though the retraction isn't as dynamic as when the belt was free and clear of friction (e.g. before the belt was routed inside the panel).

Driving the Jeep all day yesterday confirms it. The mod works perfectly. ZERO flap from the slack in the belt (because the slack is shielded from the wind) and a surprisingly quiet ride from a 2-door JK with bikini top and no doors.

Note: Photos below are from the passenger side, just for visual reference.

 

I like it!

 

WIN!

I pushed the lower dammit in firmly but left the top one a little looser to allow the belt to retract more easily. It still retracts slowly but better than when I had pushed the top dammit firmly.

 

I finally got around to doing that this weekend when I was pulling the carpets out to dry.

 

I went with two $5 seat belt pads from walmart. Put them not on the chest part where they normally go, but on the other section that flaps. It solved the problem completely and I didn't have to take anything apart!

 

Nice Mod ... gonna try that! I hate the flap!

 

I like the flap as well as my soft top leak

 

i went to lowes and purchased 2 velcro straps for 10 bucks and it basiclky does the same thing.

 

Thanks for the mod. I did this immediately after reading the post. I did it to both driver and passenger side. Had the mini bungee cord fix before this is much better. Looks nice and belt still retracts, makes driving highway speed much nicer.

 

I did that about a year ago, and I am still rocking it. Works great. The only problem I have is that the belt does not always pull itself all the way in (every once in a great while). It is pretty reare, but it does happen. If you do this mod, watch your belt buckle so it doesn't get crushed in the door.

Also, when doing this mod I seem to remember the plastic being mega super sharp and it cutting me up a bit. Were some mechanic gloves when you do this if you can, or pick up slivers of hand off your carpet.