Vanderhall: Seat Removal

I have a 2018 Vanderhall Venice. The seat back is fixed and can not tilt. I want to tilt it a little more upright. I was planning to remove the seat rails (bolted to the floor) and putting a spacer under the rear screw location, which would tilt it forward and up somewhat. Has anyone got any ideas on this?

I have figured out the only way to access the rear bolts is to align the seat/back gap over the screws, then use a long straight hex wrench (allen wrench) to reach down through the gap to unscrew it. There is no room under the seat to get any kind of wrench on the screws because there is no room between the screw head and the underside of the seat. Anyone know what size hex I need, since I have to go buy one? I can only eyeball it, and assume it is metric.

OK, I have the answer.

By trial and error I found that the 4 screws holding the seat in place are all 8m, all the same thread. The two in the rear are socket head cap screws and require a long rounded 6mm allen wrench. The front two are round head screws needing a 5mm allen wrench. Mine were extremely tightly installed and I had to drill the head off one of the front ones to get it out. The nuts are the loose clip type and hard to get the rear screws aligned when reinstalling.

I changed the front two to socket head cap screws so all match. SHCSs have a deeper socket and are easier to work with.

I only removed the passenger seat, so I could replace the battery (couldn't get it out without removing the seat).

Based on the aggravation in getting this one out, I will save the original intended project for another day.

I made two modifications to my 2018 Vanderhall Venice to adjust the driver's seat, and allow the passenger seat to tilt.

First I wanted the driver's seat to tilt more forward (the back more upright). I loosened the four screws holding the seat down: loosening the front screws only a little, but loosening the rear two enough (without removing them) to slip a 1/2" spacer under the rail at each rear screw, then retighten all. This tilted it enough for me. If you want more tilt you would need longer rear screws, and a thicker spacer.

Second, after watching a Texas Oatmeal YouTube on how he modified his passenger seat to tilt forward on hinges, I did the same to mine. I did mine a little different, but basically the same. My hinge may have been different, or his screws located different, but I did not have to drill out the hinge to get the proper location. I had to by trial and error determine the right spacer under the rear of the seat so it would rest at the proper level. Also add a small cable or rope to anchor the seat so it can't be tilted forward enough to bump (crack) the windshield.

The hinge I used: from Amazon, Black Solo Seat Springs 3" for Harley & Custom Satin Black Barrel Springs (keep the hinges, toss the springs).

Burce......Is there any storage behind the seats....Like the Slingshot has...??

Yes, there is some storage in a Vanderhall, in the area behind the seats. It's not very big, but OK. It was only accessible by sliding the seats forward, which only gave about 8"-10" of gap to get to the storage. By allowing the passenger seat to tilt all the way forward, it made the storage very accessible. The bigger problem was, I had to replace the battery which is in a compartment down low behind the passenger seat. It could only be accessed, but not removed, without removing the seat. The tilting mod fixed that.