Child restraint anchor points

**abaddonxi** · 14th July 2005, 12:54 PM

Hi all.

Just - 2 months - bought a '96 dual cab 130 to replace my '85 3.9 Isuzu trayback to make room for twins.

After a month loitering at the mechanic I finally got around to installing the baby seats and found no anchor points.

Half my friends and family seem to work for the RTA in road safety, so I can't get the job done in the bodgey way. damn.

Went to the local fitting station, ummed and ahhed and said yeah we can do this thing.

Came home to a return call from Land Rover with a list of engineers etc. to call.

So, idiot me, thought I'd call around and get the rest of the story.

Mobility Engineering - the company that supervises all child restraint installation stations in NSW passed on a message via another installer - I'm taking the Very long way round - to sell the Landy and get something that comes with anchor points.

Thanks

So I gave them a call myself.

They say that it is unsafe to put an anchor bolt into aluminium. And since the standard fitting kits don't really seem to fit the bill I should go to an engineer and get them to do something up.

Then they started talking about price and stress testing and certification and I started to think that selling the truck would be a good idea after all.

Now to my question,

Has anyone out there had car seats fitted to a dual cab 130?

Half of the job with the engineers, etc. is either to find one who knows what the hell I'm talking about or one who has done it before.

Cheers

Simon

**George130** · 14th July 2005, 04:06 PM

I have a 2001 Defender 130 and I do have a child seat in the back. I used the brace at the back to attach my mount to as that is structural and already reinforced The top of this brace holds the seat back in place so even in an accident the strap might be long but the seat needs to move before it can move and the seat belt would also have to give first.[img]http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a65/ednkaz/DSCF0537.jpg

Try looking at this plan of attack. You could also try the top mountinf point for this brace. Good luck. At worst you could build a steel brace behind the seat just to mount the seats to. Don't sell till you know you have to.
Good Luck[/img]

**Captain_Rightfoot** · 14th July 2005, 04:18 PM

I don't have any experience with the 130, but 110 wagons have the same problem. There are a number of people that will fit a restraint for the wagon and certify it. Streetwise were the people that did ours. It cost about $270.

Might be worth a call to them?

**one_iota** · 14th July 2005, 06:13 PM

Just corrected the image reference in the post from George130 above.

Hellspawn · 14th July 2005, 06:13 PM

No I haven't put seats in a 130 but I have an issue with "they" say it is unsafe to put anchor bolts into aluminium ??

An unsupported anchor bolt through aluminium would be dangerous and unsafe as it could pull through even with washers as it needs a fairly substantial surface area to pull against not ½" washers.

My series 88" has "approved" anchor points in the back for seats, seat belts and fridge tie down done and listed on the conversion to holden motor certificate. These anchor points are two bits of plate steel (75mmx75mmx10mm) sandwiching the aluminium with a ½" high tensile bolt through them. The seatbelt anchor eyelets are attached to that bolt, similarly the seat is bolted through the seat bracket. There is no way they are moving unless they take a whopping great chunk of panel with them.

I've got the "guidelines for light vehicle modifications" No6. Revision 1, April 1998 by the RTA. You can get a copy by calling 1300 137302. Doesn't detail anything about what you want to do. What I suggest you do is call the RTA and ask them if it's permitted doing similar to what they approved in my series...... and stay well away from engineers. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img]

**abaddonxi** · 16th July 2005, 09:33 PM

Thanks for your suggestions.

The problem with the 130 seems to be a shortage of space for the 'crab' bar which is a standard solution to the problem, and the aluminium which makes up the back wall is _very_ thin. I'm not keen on sleepless nights imagining what happens in an accident when the support plates pull straight through the panel and send everything else and babies flying.

I found a guy in Alexandria who reckons he's done it before and started talking about seat mounts.

I'm guessing his plan is to do it all off the seat structure. Fortunately he is an engineer, so can sign the bit of paper.

Unfortunately half an hour before our appointment he was taken off to hospital and three weeks holiday from next week.

No trips away for the babies yet.

Cheers

simon

septimus · 16th July 2005, 10:14 PM

Uh-oh. Reason I bought the Defender 110 Extreme (MY 99) instead of a Troopie was access to back seat to fit baby seat (baby due in November). Just assumed there would not be a problem fitting the seat but looks like I was wrong?

Anyone with experience fitting one to the Defender 110?

**abaddonxi** · 17th July 2005, 09:53 AM

Septimus

I have pictures of a 110 installation.

It isn't supposed to be too hard.

And not excessively messy, I think you can hide the bolts in the bulkhead rather than have Frankenstein ones sticking out on the skin.

As I recall there are structural bulkheads just behind the seats and they are used as the mounting point for the bar.

Cheers

Simon

**Bushie** · 17th July 2005, 11:00 AM

And for anyone within a couple of hours of Sydney I have one

$100 and will deliver

Bushie

**JDNSW** · 17th July 2005, 01:07 PM

I have a different (approved) setup for two seats in my 110. Two braced posts attached to U sections bolted through the floor into captive nuts on backing plates on the underside of the floor. The plates are also rivetted so the whole setup can be removed when not in use. It cost over $600 four years ago!
Not very relevant to the 130, though, I am afraid. Trying to visualise the setup, I think the major problem is the lack of clearance behind the seat. But it should be possible to have an anchor bolt through the back wall of the cab, with an attachment on the outside of the cab to either the tray (which may be solid enough in itself), or with another link to a bolt in the floor of the trya nad from that to the chassis. Something similar is on the seatbelt mounts of the cab/chassis late S3 that I have for the inner seat belt mounts.

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