Seat belts in back seat won't catch

[Dan the man]

I have a 1995 crew cab and the rear seat belts will not catch. I figured if it were just one I could just have it replaced but neither one is working. Is there an underlying cause or are both just old and worn out? Both front ones catch and lock. Any info will help. Thanks

[JUGGS]

Try squirting some zinc (edit: graphite) powder in there, or any other dry lubricant. My driver seatbelt started not catching and that did the trick.

[Dan the man]

Thanks. I just found my T-47 torx bit. I'm gonna take it off to see if I can't get it working. I called the Ford dealership out of curiosity and the parts guy quoted $1637 for the two mechs. No joke. I told he that was crazy and he said "I know".

[JUGGS]

1,637!!!!???? WTF!?

BTW, it wasn't zinc powder....it was graphite, like for freeing up door locks.

I think mine just get gummed up with years of accumulated soft-drink spillages and what-not. I could work it around with my knife and free it up. The graphite totally fixed it.

[alberta 7.3]

There could be debris/coins/etc in the catch as well. If you remove them, you should be able to press the release button and shake the crap out.