Okay techs, am I dumber than the monkey?

Going by that old saying that a monkey could eventually write Hamlet, I'm thinking a monkey could eventually install a Marathon. So maybe my title should be more along the lines of HOW MUCH dumber than the monkey am I?
So you might have seen in another thread that I got my MA checked and the tech reclined it to the full 45 degrees, so I got this brilliant idea that I could fix it myself, and I['m afraid the monkey might have put me to shame with my install (keep in mind I have osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia, and my hands are probably the worst spot on my body).
Anyway, if someone doesn't mind checking my work (I know it's not good) and telling me how to fix my recline, dd and I both appreciate it!
http://s182.photobucket.com/albums/x57/VoodooChile_77/
Thanks!

Not a tech, but I'm pretty familiar with the Marathon.

I see a few things that will make it easier for you. You need to pull the base of the seat away from the bight of the seat (where the seat back and seat bottom meet). That's the reason you can't close the lock-off and it's also the reason the seat is too reclined. Pull it out from the bight a few inches to line it up with the lock-off and when you tighten the seatbelt, put your weight on the seat closer to where the baby's feet go instead of where the baby's back or butt goes.

Another thing that is minor - I like to route the seat belt under the grey foam.

What kind of seat belts do you have? Do they lock at the latchplate or lock at the shoulder belt (ie pull it all the way and then it rachets back in and stays locked). If it is the second kind, use the lock-off if you can because the locked shoulder belt will make the seat tip to one side.

I hope that helps!

You need to pull the base of the seat away from the bight of the vehicle seat (where the back portion meets the bum portion on the vehicle seat).

When your tightening the seatbelt, put your weight into the seat where babies legs would be. These two tricks will create a very upright install.

The lock-offs should be easier to close once the base of the carseat is pulled out more. Make sure you stagger the lap and shoulder portions (so they are not right on top of each other) and if the lock-off won't close, give it a tiny bit of slack and try again.

Then hook up your d-ring and adjust the recline angle to anywhere between 30 - 45 degrees.

Just in case: The d-ring is a short piece of seatbelt webbing with a metal ring at one end and a loop of seatbelt webbing at the other.

Take your d-ring and look for a seatbelt stalk or seat track leg in front of the carseat and wrap the d-ring around it.

Slide the metal end through the seatbelt loop end and you've just created a rearfacing tether anchor point.

Hook your tether strap to this anchor point and adjust the rearfacing angle by tightening the tether strap.

It appears from your pictures that you have lightweight locking latchplates... which means you would not need to worry about the lock-offs. What vehicle (year/make/model) is the seat installed in?

Thanks everyone! Okay, a few questions:
1. How far do I pull the seat away from the bight approximately, and do I need a rolled-up towel/pool noodle to hold it there?
2. What's the best way to judge the 30 degree recline? Is there any point of reference I can use?
3. Does the harness height look okay? It seems to look different based on what angle I look at it from. The tech had said rf it needed to be in the bottom slots only, and ff in the top slots only, but I can't imagine why Britax would bother with all those other slots if you couldn't use them, right?
My car is a 2000 Mercury Mountaineer, and my seatbelts lock when I pull the shoulder belt all the way out, then ratchet back in. That was actually giving me a lot of trouble--I accidentally locked them several times just pulling the belt through, which led to some very colorful verbal beratements of the seat belt on my part (I don't think my parents' neighbors like me anymore...)
Okay, so tomorrow when it's light out, move the seat away from the bight, put weight down where her feet go, not her butt, use lock-off (it'll be the first time I've ever gotten the thing closed), and use rf tether to adjust recline.
Thank you thank you thank you!!!

VoodooChile said:

Thanks everyone! Okay, a few questions:
1. How far do I pull the seat away from the bight approximately, and do I need a rolled-up towel/pool noodle to hold it there?
2. What's the best way to judge the 30 degree recline? Is there any point of reference I can use?
3. Does the harness height look okay? It seems to look different based on what angle I look at it from. The tech had said rf it needed to be in the bottom slots only, and ff in the top slots only, but I can't imagine why Britax would bother with all those other slots if you couldn't use them, right?
My car is a 2000 Mercury Mountaineer, and my seatbelts lock when I pull the shoulder belt all the way out, then ratchet back in. That was actually giving me a lot of trouble--I accidentally locked them several times just pulling the belt through, which led to some very colorful verbal beratements of the seat belt on my part (I don't think my parents' neighbors like me anymore...)
Okay, so tomorrow when it's light out, move the seat away from the bight, put weight down where her feet go, not her butt, use lock-off (it'll be the first time I've ever gotten the thing closed), and use rf tether to adjust recline.
Thank you thank you thank you!!!

Click to expand...

1. approximately 1 - 2 inches... no you do not need a towel or a pool noodle, the RF tether will adjust the recline.
2. The horizontal line of the window is generally a pretty straight line to work off of.
3. Tech is totally wrong... the harness needs to be at or below her shoulders for RF in whatever slot is closest and meets those requirements. The picture you provided looked great for slot height.

You have locking seatbelts... sometimes they will cause a RF seat to tilt because of the pressure from the shoulder portion being tight (it lifts up that side of the seat and causes it to tilt a little).

I recommend you try the tips for getting the lock-offs closed... if it does not work, then forget the lock-offs.

In that case... close the lock-offs and ignore them. Route the seatbelt as described originally (I also prefer to go under the gray foam) and once buckled and you have it tight... pull the rest of the seatbelt all the way out to switch it into locking mode and let it ratchet back in. Put extra weight into the babies legs area of the carseat and pull any remaining slack out of the lap portion and feed it back into the retractor.

Check for less than 1" of movement at the belt path and if less than 1" of movement you're good to go. Finish by hooking up the RF tether as previously described.

1. How far do I pull the seat away from the bight approximately, and do I need a rolled-up towel/pool noodle to hold it there?

No, you shouldn't need a noodle or towel.

Pull the base (the square part that sits on the seat) out a bit so it is not smashed into the seat bite. Another trick: Get behind the seat (move the driver seat up as far as it can go/tilt out of the way) and use your hips to push/put my weight into the seat so the edge of the SEAT (rather than the base) is pushed into the back of the vehicle seat.

I can't tell from the photo, but it looks like your seats recline. If the seat reclines, lean it back a notch or two, buckle in the CR and then move the seat back to upright.

Just curious, is there a reason you are not installing the seat in the center position?

2. What's the best way to judge the 30 degree recline? Is there any point of reference I can use?

I would start at 45 degrees - assuming you're using te RF tether to get to 45 degrees, since that is easiest to check: fold a piece of paper to make a triangle, put the long edge of the triangle against the seat back of the MA so the point is on the seam at the bottom. The top edge of the triangle/paper should look flat or level to the horizon. From there, loosen the tether to allow the seat to move back up to a more upright position.

3. Does the harness height look okay? It seems to look different based on what angle I look at it from. The tech had said rf it needed to be in the bottom slots only, and ff in the top slots only, but I can't imagine why Britax would bother with all those other slots if you couldn't use them, right?

The tech has not read the manual for an MA (or any other seat for awhile). ALL slots in an MA are reinforced, all slots can be used either FF or RF. From the photo, it looks like the harnes is exactly at her shoulders so it should be fine (RF harness should be at or below shoulders). The slot below looks like it would far below/behind her shoulders - it's hard to tell from a photo as the angle can be deceiving.

4. My car is a 2000 Mercury Mountaineer, and my seatbelts lock when I pull the shoulder belt all the way out, then ratchet back in. That was actually giving me a lot of trouble.

Solution: pull the seat belt out slow/gentle, buckle & tighten seat and THEN pull the seatbelt all the way out to switch the retractor and tighten again.

You mention you have some difficulties with your hands, it would probably be helpful to have a 2nd person help you. The other person can hold the shoulder harness of the belt to prevent it from switching, help thread the seat belt through (one person on each side of the seat, as well as help pull slack from seat belt to fully tighten it while you put your weight into the seat. Even with two fully functional hands, it is easier to install a seat with 2 people.

Just curious, is there a reason you are not installing the seat in the center position?

Yeah, my arthritis/fibro is terrible in the mornings (when we're almost always in the car), and I have an awful time getting her into the middle, getting into the seat beside her, and buckling her in. If I can get her in and stand next to her, I'm pretty good to go.


I would start at 45 degrees - assuming you're using te RF tether to get to 45 degrees, since that is easiest to check:
I'm going for a more upright angle--the tech originally put her at 45 degrees, but she's 20 months and hated the recline, so I wanted her at 30 degrees instead.
Thanks so much!
ETA: The tech also put a locking clip on near the buckle--is this preferred or even allowed? I took it off.

VoodooChile said:

ETA: The tech also put a locking clip on near the buckle--is this preferred or even allowed? I took it off.

Click to expand...

Not preferred, and I'm not sure if it's allowed or not. Since you have built-in lockoffs, and auto-locking seatbelts, you definitely do not need the locking clip. That's one of the nice things about Britax seats, actually. I think your tech was a dud.

-Sarah

VoodooChile said:

ETA: The tech also put a locking clip on near the buckle--is this preferred or even allowed? I took it off.

Click to expand...

Britax does not allow the use of locking clips with their seats. I'd consider finding out how to report this tech.. it sounds like she's not reading the seat manuals and is giving out bad - potentially dangerous, info.

Thanks everyone! I went out this morning and uninstalled it, pulled it back a bit (no kidding about it being super-upright--my mom was helping me and thought I was leaving it that way!), fed the belt through under the gray foam this time (I think when dh installed it, he put it over the crotch belt strap instead of under, b/c now I feel like I have crotch buckle strap for days!)and had my mom push down by where her legs would go as hard as possible (I told her I wanted her feet off the ground) while I buckled the seat belt. Still no luck getting the lock-off closed (I'm starting to think it's defective) but I got the shoulder belt locked, then used the tether to pull it back to a recline (needed my mad biceps for that one!), so now I think I'm good to go. The front of the seat ended up touching the seat back again, and it does move a bit at the belt path, but I'm not sure if that's due to the install or the fact that I have leather seats. Once dd wakes up and has breakfast, I'll update my pics on Photobucket. Is there anything in particular I should be sure to photgraph, or did I do okay last time? And lastly, are any of the techs from this forum in the Chicagoland area?
Thanks!

The tech you went to see is excruciatingly uninformed (a locking clip? top harness slots only when FF? Ow! my eyes! they burn!)...and everyone's giving you great tips, I have nothing to add, except your car really is a very difficult install, you are NOT stupider than a monkey, I promise

www.seatcheck.net (maybe you can get CPSDarren himself if you're near Naperville...but lots of good techs up that way)

The pictures you did last time were great.

As long as there is less than 1" of movement at the belt path, your install is fine.

The front of the seat touching the back of the vehicle seat is fine... you just don't want the base right up against the bight of the vehicle seat (unless you want it really reclined ).

Okay, I've redone it yet again. My rear seat sort of slants down towards the bight, which is making me crazy, and if I knew a Mafia hit man, I'd hire him to off my rear-facing lock-off. I think my recline looks good, the base is flush against the seat (lots of work with the recline handle to get THAT right!), and I think (minimal) movement at the belt path is due to the slippery leather seats. I'm not in love with the idea of putting anything under the Marathon, but I will if you think it'll help. I don't give one solitary turd about my leather at all, just getting a good install. I'm going outside to take pics now, so I should have them up on Photobucket later this afternoon (I don't have the cable that connects my digital camera to the computer, so I have to use a disposable, take it to Walgreens and have them put it on a disk, then upload them. This'll be my third camera and I'm pretty sure the Walgreens people think I'm truly insane).
Thanks again!!!

As long as you have less than an inch of movement you are fine.

I would not put anything underneath for the slipping issue.

What you can do (this is gonna take two people) to get it a little tighter is the following...

Install seat as normal and lock seatbelt. Pull all the slack out of the belt while putting pressure on where babies feet would sit. Now, hold onto the shoulder portion so that it can not retract back into the retractor and unbuckle the seatbelt. Feed the shoulder portion back into the retractor 2 - 3 clicks and then work like crazy to rebuckle the seatbelt. Usually this means one person sitting in the seat and the other one buckling it up. You should have a pretty solid install after doing this. Check for less than 1" of movement at the beltpath, then attach RF tether.

As for the lock-offs, they detach with a screwdriver and you can flip them backwards so that they face the other way. This may work better and actually allow you to use them instead of locking your seatbelt. Sorry, I forgot to tell you this earlier! I'm not actually positive if it will solve your lock-off issue, but if you want to try you can.

If you want to try that, open the lock-off and you will see two screws... unscrew them, flip the lock-off 180 degrees and reattach the screws.

I may try that trick with the lock-off==thanks!
Okay, here's my latest round of pics. The base ended up back at the bight, but my seat slopes so much I couldn't avoid it. The recline is good, though, otherwise dd would be letting me know it was unacceptable.
http://s182.photobucket.com/albums/x57/VoodooChile_77/

It looks great! Except (and I really hate to to this to you), you need to close the lockoff since you are not using it and then install the seat. With the shoulderbelt locked, it is trapped under the open part of the lock-off which will introduce quite a bit of slack in a collision when the lock-off breaks. Sorry! Otherwise it looks perfect!