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Adding 5th Point to harness - need advice!

flyboy1963

Well Known Member
I have the Van's 4 point belts, but can't see why they say you "can't add a 5th".
there seems to be enough room on the lap belt spade for another metal 'dog', from below.
am I missing something?
also looked on the forums for a simple one-bolt attach point, perhaps even with a cable like the shoulder harness uses to go back to the attach point....seems most guys are doing a major re/re of a bracket, drilling the spar for bolts etc.

.....this is just to keep me from banging my head, not for aero.
 
Bought Vans mount and new harnesses

I added the fifth point 2 years ago. Vans sells the underfloor mount (cheap as I recall). Kind of a pain to install but largely because I had wiring I had to move. Plane was 5 years old, so I bought Crow harnesses. Decent price and great service. There's a thread here on that.
Funny you'd be from Kelowna. A couple months after the install, we were returning from Kamloops through the mountains to Kelowna on our way back to the States. Not great weather and hit severe turbulence about 5 miles west of where we came over the lake along Kelowna. Even strapped down tight and the 5th point harnesses, we hit the canopy hard enough to knock me senseless for a few seconds. We diverted to Kelowna for inspection and a hospital visit for my wife, whose legs bounced against the bottom of the panel hard. I am CERTAIN we would have died if not for the 5th point harness. It's worth the work to install it.
 
There wasn't enough room...

...on the 4-Pt. Van's set I had. I eventually went with Crow, like many others on this forum. Because I was retrofitting a -6A and the rib spacing is different than the 7/9 models, the job was a real PITA. If I had to do the same installation again, I would just fab the parts myself.

Larry Tompkins

544WB -6A
W52 Battle Ground, WA
 
Installing the 5th point is kind of a bore, but not too bad. The biggest difficulties are clearing pre-existing wiring runs and getting tools between the ribs. Wish I'd done mine before the wiring, that's for sure.
 
I too recently had a severe turbulence encounter that was pounding me against the canopy in spite of having the Vans belts as tight as I could get them. This was the first time I've had grave concerns about what would've happened if the Vans latch had let go......

I installed a G-Force 5-point racing harness with a latch-link fastener. Here is the bracket I built for the crotch belt attachment:

5-point%20anchor.jpg


Yes, there are four pan-head screws penetrating the belly but I didn't have a right angle drill attachment small enough for working between the ribs. The belt comes up through a slot cut into the stick opening in the floorboard and the slot is finished off with the trim holding the stick boot in place. All in all a pretty tidy and firm installation. I like the 5-point system.
 
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part hardware, part 'soft'wear!

thanks Sam, that's a good retrofit!
I can't find anywhere that AmSafe will sell me a crotch strap, which I think is weird.....they seem to be 'too big' to notice me. ( unless I want an airbag!)

but I did find the little link that makes all this work.....

http://www.lowyusa.com/rh54-s

not in stock, special order etc. etc. Hmmm. doesn't look that rare does it.?

Van's says they won't sell it to us folks with 4-point harnesses. Mine sure looks like there's plenty of slop in the main latch to slide another 1/8" wide link on there, but I could be wrong!

I guess another option is to go all webbing......make a loop that goes over the lap belt on each side, and then join them together somewhere in the lower stick zone, if you know what I mean. could be tough to adjust, although if the pilot never changes, it could work eh?

ideas?
 
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