TT Anchors in older trucks

chay

New member
I'm asking this for a friend. We're in Canada.

He's looking to buy an old truck for very occasional use. He has 2 petite kids aged 3 & 5 that are a long ways off of the 40lbs minimum for boostering here. All FF seats in Canada have to be top tethered.

Does anyone have an idea of what years you would be able to retro fit top tethers in a Ford (say in an F150)? I'm guessing anything in the 70's would be impossible to retro fit but wanted to check with the experts before telling him it is impossible.

(and yes, I know RF might be the only legal way for the kid to ride but he doesn't want to buy a seat for such occasional use).

TIA
 
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Keeks64

New member
I'm asking this for a friend. We're in Canada. He's looking to buy an old truck for very occasional use. He has 2 petite kids aged 3 & 5 that are a long ways off of the 40lbs minimum for boostering here. All FF seats in Canada have to be top tethered. Does anyone have an idea of what years you would be able to retro fit top tethers in a Ford (say in an F150)? I'm guessing anything in the 70's would be impossible to retro fit but wanted to check with the experts before telling him it is impossible. (and yes, I know RF might be the only legal way for the kid to ride but he doesn't want to buy a seat for such occasional use). TIA

It would depend entirely.

I would try to stick with late 80's early 90's or newer if at all possible. It seems a lot of vehicle manufactures don't make the retrofit parts for older vehicles & if they do they can cost quite a bit (upwards of $100 per anchor in some cases)

The vehicle manual will have the anchor locations or drill holes if they are there.

Trucks can be tricky as they can sometimes be down behind or under the seat.

If he has a year in mind I can look it up in my LATCH manual but I dont know any specific years off the top of my head
 

chay

New member
Thanks for the reply.

I don't think he wants to go that new (he's looking for something ultra cheap to do stuff around a hobby farm kind of thing). They have an SUV and car that they would normally use.

If it isn't too much trouble, could you look up a 1978 and 1979? (I think that is the cusp when they changed styles so hopefully knowing both of those will help with a few years on either side). At least it will give an idea if it is even possible.

My other thought is to recommend a super cab and then use the rear seat belts to anchor the car seats in the front. It might be a problem with the middle of the bench seat but they do have a Marathon with a "V" tether that might avoid the crack.
 

Keeanh

Well-known member
Honestly, in a vehicle that old for very occasional use, I would probably focus my attention on retrofitting the seatbelts. I wouldn't be comfortable with seatbelts over 20 years old.

As for the top tether, I would go with the "something is better than nothing" line of thought and do what everyone did circa 1980. They got an aftermarket tether anchor and had a mechanic drill a hole for it. This might be more complicated with a pickup, though.

If they could get one of those trucks with some space behind the front seat, even without an actual seat back there, it would be a lot easier to find a structural place to drill. I also like the idea of getting one with a tiny back seat and tethering to the rear seatbelts.

I'm not going to advocate your friend breaking the law. But I will say that if *I* had a farm truck with only a front seat and had to take it on the road with kids in an emergency, I would install without a tether, knowing that they pass testing in the US. If possible, a Radian or Nautilus (they get good head excursion numbers without tethers) and hope I didn't happen upon a knowledgeable cop :duck:.

How far off 40lbs is the 5yo? If there's a lap-shoulder belt and we're talking a 38lb 5yo, I might also fudge 5yo's weight and put him/her in a booster. I would consider getting a Sureride for 3yo to RF, or maybe 2 Surerides for both to RF if 5yo is really tiny. Getting a factory tether, if such a thing even exists, will be very expensive I'm sure. The Surerides would be $140 each and a heck of a lot less trouble to get, I promise that ;)

Just my thoughts :twocents:
 

chay

New member
Oh, good point about the old seat belts. I'll bring that up to him.

Ok so I think that leaves me with
1) do it yourself tether (something is better than nothing). He rebuilds classic cars as a hobby so I think he'd easily be able to do that one (or he knows a LOT of mechanics that would do it even if it isn't technically endorsed).
2) use a seat that is ok in the U.S. without the top tether and take the risk that someone will notice (honestly the cops out here probably won't notice the lack of tether and this is rural where there aren't any cops anyway). I think they have one Nautilus that would work.
3) RF
4) booster

I'm not sure how much the 5 year old weighs. She is very mini (my DS took until 6.5 to get to 40lbs and she is way smaller than he was). She just turned 5 this summer and recently called my just turned DD who turned 5 yesterday "the big girl". I'm not sure if the 3 year old is over 30lbs and would be over the RF limit on the classic Marathons they already own. I'll bring up the RF option as well.

Thanks for the ideas.
 

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