So I finally got a chance to put my Zforce 800 trail through its paces. I'm spending a couple days at Badlands Off-road park in Attica IN. It has a little bit of everything from mud to sand, gravel trails, and some steep climbs. This 800 trail has tackled everything thrown at it.


But a couple times when in 4wd and Lo, when coming to a stop or slowing, it made an awful clanking and kind of grinding sound and was definitely not normal. It is still fairly new and the 1 year warranty is up in August. I haven't had a lot of opportunities to put it through its places up until now.


Not sure if the 4wd had anything to do with it but I did notice if I firmly shifted from neutral to Lo, it almost never made this noise. I'm guessing maybe the shift cable needs an adjustment? How hard is it to do that?


Also, mine was outfitted with the emergency parking brake and I know enough to not use park. But I'm still not used to the parking brake. I almost never use it on my truck but do all the time on this. I accidently forgot to release it earlier and ended up driving maybe about a 1/2 mile before I realized it. It seemed fine afterwards but is there anything I should be concerned with?


And finally it has been drizzling and raining off an on a few times. I did notice that inside the headlights there was some condensation. It was only towards the very right on left headlight and very left on right headlight. Is this something I need to address with a warranty claim or is it normal?

[2015 Z Force 800 53/Trail EPS]

Lets see...yes, check the shifter alignment..and so as if it is the cause you are damaging the transmission. Not hard. Just align the gate detents with the transmission detents.

I too have gone and left my hand brake on and toasted the brake pads at least twice. Mine are the old style with the hand brake on the driveline not out at the wheel. It still works...but yours will have burned the brake pad and over heated the disk. If it were mibe I would take a look at the color of the disk and if blued, I would consider replacing it and the pads. That's just me though.

The condensation inside the headlights comes from the unit vent tubes being routed to the center and behind the radiator. Running with the lights on heats up the inside air and the outer plastic. Then when you hit water or snow it splashed up against the the light's plastic cooling them enough to draw air in through the vents...and at the same time that splash hits the radiator sending steam all over behind the radiator..right where those vents are. Relocate the vents to the outer fenders away from any possible heat or steam from the radiator. I just stuck them over to the fenders are it all quit.

Thanks for the reply. Looks like I have some stuff to do after I get back home. Thanks!

Well on Fri while back out on trails, I made sure to solidly shift from neutral into low everytime and had no issues. On Sat though, it happened one time but I think I may have not solidly shifted that time. I am now back home again and will see about adjusting the detents maybe sometime later this week and also look at repositioning the headlight vents.

As far as the detents, can you at least point me in the direction on where I can find the detents on how to make the adjustment? Unfortunately I have not been able to get my hands on a service manual for my G2 yet.  I am fairly mechanically inclined and have done all my own service on my motorcycles now for several decades now as well as a lot of various repairs on my vehicles through the years.

And as far as the emergency brake, I wasn't able to look very close at the disk as the machine did accumulate quite a coating of mud over last several days but will be doing a good cleaning and inspection later this week.

[2015 Z Force 800 53/Trail EPS]

Just so it's clear, if..if being forced out of gear under power because it wasn't in all the way or because the dogs have rounded-off from previous pop-outs, bends or beaks a shifting fork, it does mean a complete engine tear-down to replace it and any damaged parts and that means a rebuild. It may have already happened but risking that against a simple shifter adjustment should caused most people to at least checked it before going out again. Not knowing what the G2s have for shifter connection to the engine, either cable or rod, the adjustments are on that piece of attachment. The goal is to set the shifter in the center position which is neutral and see to it that the ball detent in the transmission is centered in it's hole while the shifter in it's locked state is centered in it's spot on the gate. Neutral may not have a lock but the rest should. From there the rest should line up but check each position anyway. 

It never had a problem under power. It runs like a beast and no signs of it not being in gear. It never "popped" out of gear. Even when slowing down and the noises, it was still in gear. Normally what I would do is to come to complete stop, but rather quickly and grab the shifter, double check it is fully in "Lo", and then I can step on the accelerator and pull off and no noise. It just made those awful noises upon deceleration. I only have about 65 miles total on this now and the noise only first happened on Thursday

What I don't understand is what exactly do I need to remove to be able to see the shifter detent and the transmission detent. I am completely clueless on this. If I can be steered to the right place, I know the adjustment shouldn't be difficult.

[2015 Z Force 800 53/Trail EPS]

I can't tell you on the new ones but the plastics will need to come out enough to expose the shifter and per the diagram yours has a cable. The cable has adjusters on both ends. I suggest you open it up, put it in neutral, remove the ball on the trans side or the pin on the shifter side, move the shifter so its centered in the neutral position and wiggle the transmission lever just enough to ensure it is in it's detent and put the end back on..without moving anything else. If it is out of alignment the ball or the pin won't slip straight back on and in that case adjust one side of the cable so it does. Then do the same for both ends of the shifter..as in put it in Park, pull an end off, center it in the shifter gate and see how it aligns with the transmission. The same on the other direction..I guess that would be Low. But from a manual outlook, everyone starts in the center position or neutral..on all vehicles. When done button it back up.

Excellent! Thank you sir!!!

Well I am looking at diving in to check this sometime next week. I just received my CFMoto Service Manual and browsed through it pretty deeply. I can find absolutely no mention of the shifter or the shifter cable. Ugh... I will say that everything else seems to be covered pretty thoroughly though. On another note, the electric schematics although on a large foldout page are pretty small and may need a magnifying glass for my old eyes.

[2015 Z Force 800 53/Trail EPS]

On another note, the electric schematics although on a large foldout page are pretty small and may need a magnifying glass for my old eyes.

At least it came with one.