[slamyu]

I just installed Elka stage 1 shocks on my 2017 Zforce 800 Trail EPS and now the clearance is only 10.5" with 28" Bear claw tires? The stock height of the Trail is listed in the service manual as 300mm (11.811") and with 28" tires I should have an additional 1" for a total of 12.8" right?? Did anyone else have to crank up the preload to offset such a big drop after installing Elka stage 1's? I don't want to screw up the ride that I just paid $1K to fix by over cranking the pre-load on these new shocks! 

[NMKawierider]

My experience with Elka has been they do set the preload at the shop for the best which is near the center of the a-arm swing or arch plus set the height with an "attack angle" which makes the front higher then rear to increase the caster angle for the optimum function. Both tends to conflict with any operator other then a racer or competition operation. For us, the rear needs to be either level or slightly higher then the front and we need our ground clearance. So... as I have had to do on other machines I installed Elias, a compromise has to be reached. Yes, you will loose some of that fantastic Elko ride..but not all of it, and it will be more compliant with your needs. I suggest you start by loading the cab with the weight of yourself and any extra you normally carry. Then measure as close to the diffs as possible on the main skid plate to the floor. Adjust the rear preload to increase the rear height so it has about a half inch higher then the front being careful to be even on both sides. Should jack it up to take the load off the adjusters when you do this then set down, bounce once, then measure. Once you have it, then loosen the front's adjusters and give all shocks one half turn at a time until the ground clearance you want is achieved. Do a final check of the angle..it needs to ne level to slightly higher in back. Lock it all down and you are done. Remember... every crank of the preload is making the ride... firmer... so don't give it any more then you really have to. Good luck.     

[REDRIDER]

If that is the case it may serve you better to put a bracket lift on it and keep the suspension preload where it is. It might be less detrimental to the ride quality than increasing the height by upping the preload.

[slamyu]

Thank you NMK for the detailed explanation of what and why I need to adjust the pre-load! That makes sense and clarifies what I need to do.

Redrider,
Doesn't the bracket lift require cutting and welding? I thought they were designed for RZR and had to be modified to fit CFMoto? How much are the bracket lifts( I kinda blew my budget with $1k on the shocks...lol)?

[NMKawierider]

The one thing I would be afraid of with a lift is that Elka takes in account all aspects of a machines's suspension including shock angles and ratios when valving and selecting spring rates. Changing something like that may defeat the vary reason one got Elka in the first place. Well..in reality reseting ride height, attack angle and preload is probably doing the same thing. One thing I learned a while back was that when ordering Elkas many people don't add enough weight to the specs...while a few add too much. This obviously makes Elka's decisions on spring rates, valving and presets incorrect for some new owners. For instance, mine with all the extras including the steel skids, doors, windshields & box is 97 lbs heavier then it came stock. Add in that I carry about 40lbs of junk, then add my self and my wife..(even if she only rides sometimes)..and now I have the stock weight plus about 477 extra lbs. I would round that to an even 500lbs and just back-off the preload if it was too much after I got them. That's just me though.

 

[ctdls]

Some very good points NMK.

Myself I would go back to Elka looking for a higher rate spring rather than increased preload.

[slamyu]

NMK,
Holy crap! I think you might have figured out my problem by pointing out a mistake I think I made filling out the online spec sheet.... I did not add the weight of anything other than what I carry in the bed (I guessed at about 50 lbs) and did not think about the other aftermarket add ons (windshield, snorkel kit, doors, lights, etc....) which might add another 50 lbs. I also did not add any weight for my wife into that # I simply checked the box indicating that I do have a passenger (there wasn't a field to enter the weight of the passenger, just a check box) I did enter my weight correctly and listed that I had 28" bear claw tires....  I also just realized that the 10.5" of clearance was measured empty (without me or my wife's weight in the machine) which means it will lose even more clearance with us in it! DAMN IT! Did I just screw myself on a 1k purchase?

[slamyu]

Ctdls,
That sounds like a good idea but I am sure they will want more $ for new springs which I don't have the extra money for after dropping 1k on the shocks right now...My wife was already a bit shocked by the cost(no pun intended) and another 3-400 for replacement springs would not  improve the cost /benefit ratio of the upgrade!  Lol

[slamyu]

I just called Elka tech support and told them about the clearance issue. I was told not to increase pre-load by more than 3-4 full turns, and that if it is not satisfactory after that, to call them back so they can send me higher load springs! I was starting to panic after realizing that I may have botched the spec sheet online but am feeling much better now that Elka has offered to correct the problem with stronger springs! Elka cares about customer service and keeping customers happy which is awesome! I am feeling "once bitten, twice shy" after my horrible experience with another Canadian company that totally screwed me over on my doors!

[NMKawierider]

I just called Elka tech support and told them about the clearance issue. I was told not to increase pre-load by more than 3-4 full turns, and that if it is not satisfactory after that, to call them back so they can send me higher load springs! I was starting to panic after realizing that I may have botched the spec sheet online but am feeling much better now that Elka has offered to correct the problem with stronger springs! Elka cares about customer service and keeping customers happy which is awesome! I am feeling "once bitten, twice shy" after my horrible experience with another Canadian company that totally screwed me over on my doors!

Yeah..good people. They have always been there for me when I had issues or questions.

[glenlivet]

You kidding? I envy your 10.5 inches of ground clearance! I have Elka stage 1's on Z force trail, as set by Elka with the stock 26" tires (25.25 actually) and my clearance is 8 1/4" at the rear skid plate! I'm hoping the 27" tires I have on order measure true and I'll gain 7/8".

If your shocks are set up like mine you'll find that while there's plenty of thread on the shock body in the front, the rear shocks as supplied have only about 3/16" left in which to increase preload before the shock body runs out of thread. Elka probably says don't tighten more than 3-4 turns because on the rear that's all you CAN turn it!
In any case excessive preload both by stronger spring and by more preload via the collar takes away from the compliance via extension that Elka builds in. The higher that you make it ride, the harder it'll hit.

My machine as supplied never did have anywhere like 11.8" of ground clearance! That figure is either a crack smoke inspired invention by CF Moto or is measured with floor jacks under each end of the UTV and pumped up till the tires just touch the ground. The Trail never had a foot of ground clearance in anyone's dreams.

CF Moto apparently is not ashamed to fudge figures, as proven by the advertised claim on the spec sheet that the Trail's front and rear suspension have 7.8" and 6.5" of wheel travel respectively.
Seeing as the stock shocks have all of 2.5" and 2" of total ram travel, and the shock unit's lower mount is near the outside of the swing arm, making for less than 1.5 X shock travel translated to wheel travel, it is obvious that the claim of 7.8" and 6.5" of front/rear suspension travel came straight from someone's rectum. It's mathematically impossible unless they are measuring suspension arm travel with the shocks disconnected and the arm travel enhanced with a 6 foot pry bar.

I would avoid trying to fit a bracket lift on the Trail for the reasons NMK stated and for the angle increase that it would force the Trail's short drive shaft CV joints to work.

[slamyu]

Glenlivet,
Thank you for your input! I checked the rear shocks and you are correct! There is MAYBE enough threads to get 3-4 full turns before hitting bottom. You have made a very compelling argument for NOT degrading the ride quality and I am now rethinking messing with the pre-load to gain height. Are you saying that it's not the size of your ground clearance, but what you do with it, that really  matters?

[glenlivet]

When I checked I found that the American brochure spec claims 11.3 inches of G/C for the Z-800 Trail and the Canadian claim is 11.2" G/C, both figures wildly optimistic.
Tonight just for laughs I floor jacked the rear of the machine until the tires just barely scraped the ground, and measured what the clearance would be with solid bars for shocks, and no allowance for tire compression. 12.25 with my stock tires. An earlier experiment showed that tire compression at my 10 lbs for just the weight of the machine is 3/4".
So yes, in a way the ground clearance could be the advertised 11.3 inches, if your shocks were seized at FULL EXTENSION or the collars were or could be spun down until the springs were mashed flat at coil bind for their full length! So how on Earth can they claim 11.2 inches of ground clearance? Put the crack pipe down.

It's not the size of your ground clearance as you say but what you do with it... to a point. (If I had your 10.5 inches I'd throw rocks at my eight!) Part of my philosophy has been to get a good skid plate and if it's going to touch down, let 'er rub!
It does however get old hearing rocks and stuff hammering into your underbelly on a frequent basis, however cautious and prudent you try to be. If I could I'd fudge the preload up a bit.
Personally I think Elka went a bit soft on the spring selection, as my stock shocks that I briefly put back on tonight just to see, gave 9 inches G/C on my setup and the Elka give me a static 8. These figures all don't include rider and passenger as I couldn't do that and run a camera too.

I have learned the importance of leaving extension compliance intact as well as allowing compression so that the ride is somewhere in the middle and your suspension can go both ways according to the landscape.

[REDRIDER]

If the ride quality is good as it is I would still rather put a bracket lift on it rather than up the preload and screw up your ride. Your trails shocks are pretty straight up and down so it won't change the geometry much. I did a bracket lift on my EX and I have a lot more strut angle and I didn't really notice a handling change other than having the higher ride height. I did a bracket lift and unloaded my preload for a softer ride it worked out well for me. I disconnected my sway bar and she rolls hard but even with all that roll I can hammer down a trail and toss her sideways and she stays on all 4's. It feels strange at first and scary if you aren't used to it but to me its they best of both worlds, soft for crawling and rough stuff and it still handles great just feels weird she's loose, which I like offroad.

[glenlivet]

PS, just for my own satisfaction I went by a CF Moto dealership a couple weeks ago  and took my tape and measured the ground clearance of a brand new trail 800 parked on a flat appearing cement apron. New unladen vehicle. It measured a hair over 8" to the back receiver and the same at the rear of the front bash plate where it sticks down behind the front dif.
11.3 inches on what planet? 
I can see an ORV maker might fudge figures in order to not discourage a potential buyer who matches specs between brands, but this is exaggeration on an epic scale. They are claiming as ground clearance, the figure arrived at with all four control arms fully extended and tires just grazing the ground!
  That's a new one on me.

pps: With my new 27" tires and the preloads wound up a bit more than Elka supplied the shocks with, I have between 9.5 and 10" G/C and the last couple rides I went on I didn't hear the thing touch down once.
I'm satisfied.