My name is Herb and I am a brand new King Ranch owner (2003/blue).

Our King Ranch has the bench seat. The other day, I lowered the backs on both sides to haul some stuff. When I placed the big seat back to its full upright position, the LOML found that the seat belt retainer had indented the seat and checked it very closely to make sure that I had not damaged her beautiful leather. To be honest I was kind of shook about it as well. My wife suggested that next time I put a foam pad on top of the retainer to protect the leather. I am OK with that, except it will keep the seat from folding down all of the way.

Any advice will be appreciated.
Thanks.

 

Shome (Herb),

Welcome to the King Ranch forum, let us see your beauty when you get a chance. Also, I've got the rear buckets so I can't comment on your concerns, sorry.

I would assume you bought it loaded since I think almost all KRs are ordered with the big engine and loaded...

Later and again enjoy your time here.

~DM~

 

Well, I have an 02 with the bench in the back. I don't believe it has seat belt retainers on it. I know the headrest comes off so you can lay the seats down flat and still have the front seats all the way back. Maybe there is some way to take the retainer off too. If you can, take a picture of it, I'm curious to see what the bench looks like in the 03. You can create a gallery and then click on the image. Once there, click on the button for "forum codes," that will give you the link/command to post a picture to the forum. Or you can just tell us you created a gallery and we can go find it ourselves

Oh, and welcome to the group.

 

Is it not the case that the retainer will just tuck out of the way between the seat back and the seat squab ?
Most vehicles that have this design of folding rear seat do that to prevent the very problem you speak of .
Will still be interesting to see a photo though.

PS Welcome to the forum !

 

you could always put old socks over them if lent's idea doesn't work for you.

 

Thanks to all who replied. What I did not say in my post is that my King is a 4X4 screw. As to it being fully loaded it is missing the power rear window and bed extender. I added a snugtop lid and will probably do a bed rug next month. No rock, dirt or mulch in this truck. I will use a trailer to haul such stuff.

The seat belt retainer problem is that it is in the middle of the bench seat and stands straight up. It is in a plastic holder that also contains the middle persons seatbelt. It is mounted close to the seat back. It is held pretty stiff and the retainer is about one inch thick, two inches wide and over two inches long. so when seat back is brought forward and down there does not seem to be enough clearance to tuck it back behind the seat. So the retainer, rigid plastic, lays down on top of the middle seat seat belt, and dents the soft seat back about that amount. This is made worse by the seat back having a "roll" where it contacts the seat belt retainer.

The "dent" did finally go away. But right now any scratch, bump or dent is a big deal. I suspect over time the seat dent will become a permanent deformation.

 

Curios, does the middle have a shoulder strap or just a lap belt? Sounds like it has a shoulder strap from your description. Mine just has a lap belt. Can you take the retainer off? Can the retainer be replaced with something softer/lower profile? Just some thoughts. Hopefully you can figure out something to keep it from causing a permanent irregularity or damage. Good Luck.

 

Viper,
The center position is a lap belt. The two outboard seats have the shoulder/lap belt. The problem part is the retainer for the shoulder/lap belt. Yes, I hestitate to lower the seat less if it could damage the seat. I had hoped the more experienced folks on this board would have been aware of and had a solution to this problem although I do not know what the seat belt arrangement in the 2002 looks like.

Thanks

 

"More experienced folks would have a solution !"

You just gotta be kidding !!

 

Lent,

OK, thanks

Change post to "Folks that are smarter than me"