I unbolted my seat belt, now I can't get it to unroll again...

[Joey Link]

Man, I feel dumb asking this. While I was disassembling the interior of my cabrio I unbolted the driver side seat belt retractor. It retracted fully and now I can't get it to come out so I can bolt it back up. Is there a trick to this? I've tried analyzing the passenger side that I didn't unbolt and I see how the black plastic thing needs to slide, but it still won't unlock.

[SchnellerVert]

needs to be perpendicular to the ground. Orient them the way they came out and slowly pull it out to allow the unit to retract itself.

[Mike325]

Ya, they won't work unless they are sitting like they are installed. May have to install it to make it work again, but it should be ok.

[Jscotty]

To clarify what was just said, there is a pendulum inside of the retractor that locks the belt whenever it moves from its center position, (e.g. when the car is rapidly slowing down or when it hits an obsticle from the front.) So what you would have to do is position the retractor in such a way that would cause the pendulum to release. Thus setting it in a position similar to how it would be mounted as Schneller and Mike suggested.