[Chandler]

Well me and the wife recently traded the 2016 500 zforce in on a 2018 zforce 800 exp. love it so far except one thing. The engine brake is non existent and with the insane price of pads for these things mixed with the extrem short life I am against using the foot brake unless absolutely needed. So has anyone experience this? Looking for a remedy. When we are driving say 30-40km and let off we just coast where with the old 500 we would come to a stop reletively quick at the same speed. The one of the biggest selling points on this machine and it’s dissapointing at best

[NMKawierider]

If it actually just costs and the engine RPMs come down..like popping it into neutral, the one way bearing or actually "sprag" isn't working. It's job is to maintain a grip between the crank and the clutch shaft until it become slow enough that it goes below the engine RPM. Tell the dealer about this. Some came with defective sprags and some had them left out completely....gota love CFM QC.. Now if it's just weak, then increasing the secondary spring resistance forcing it to backshift harder with the foot off the throttle helps...ie go to C1 or B2. Or even lighter primary weights will help as well...but not as much.   

Even without it you should have engine braking until the wet clutch starts retracting it's pads...but that should be down around 1800-2200 RPM. Try it in low range and set the tach to be on. Take it out on a straight down hill run if you can and up into the 4500+ rpm range and take your foot off the gas while watching the tach. You should feel engine braking until it gets down to that 1800-2200 range with the wet clutch. If it disengages right below that then you know the sprag clutch has a problem. Remember that even the sprag will let go when the force of the engine trying to slow down gets close to the force of the drive train trying to speed it up....and that these have what I consider a pretty high idle RPM..1150-1350 or so...so expect the sprag to release several hundred RPMs higher then your machine's normal idle...say around 1500. In low range this should feel pretty slow though

[REDRIDER]

What NMK said. The engine braking should not be non existent, there is something wrong.

[Willness33]

I'm a brand new owner of a 2018 800ex myself, new to sxs's and the forum. I wonder if the difference of engine brake feel between the OP's original 500 and his new 800 has to do with the cvtech dry clutch....Or am I mistaken thinking that every cvtech clutch is dry?

[REDRIDER]

I'm a brand new owner of a 2018 800ex myself, new to sxs's and the forum. I wonder if the difference of engine brake feel between the OP's original 500 and his new 800 has to do with the cvtech dry clutch....Or am I mistaken thinking that every cvtech clutch is dry?

The 800's are a wet clutch design, the new Z1000 has the dry clutch. 500 has a dry clutch. The engine braking is still there tho maybe not as strong as a dry clutch when at speed. If it is freewheeling when off throttle like it is in neutral then there is a problem.

[Willness33]

I'm a brand new owner of a 2018 800ex myself, new to sxs's and the forum. I wonder if the difference of engine brake feel between the OP's original 500 and his new 800 has to do with the cvtech dry clutch....Or am I mistaken thinking that every cvtech clutch is dry?

The 800's are a wet clutch design, the new Z1000 has the dry clutch. 500 has a dry clutch. The engine braking is still there tho maybe not as strong as a dry clutch when at speed. If it is freewheeling when off throttle like it is in neutral then there is a problem.

Gotcha. Still reading a lot and learning the machine. Fwiw, mine seems to engine brake fairly well, although I have nothing cvt to compare it to.

[glenlivet]

The engine braking on my 800 Trail (wet clutch as designed) is the strongest I have ever seen, and in low range and when idling the machine will descend the steepest of our British Columbia hills (and we have hills, let me tell you) with absolutely no use of the service brakes at all. It just crawls down at 3 KMH and 1400 RPM. No brakes.
And if you shut off the key in mid descent of such steep hill, the motor stops and the SXS stops and you could get out and leave it parked like that! Now that's engine braking.

Clearly your Sprague clutch is not working as designed, and it needs shop attention right away.

[Cosmosdan]

Just adding that the older 500 uses a wet clutch. I believe that if you have a plastic clutch cover, you have a dry clutch.

[glenlivet]

Just adding that the older 500 uses a wet clutch. I believe that if you have a plastic clutch cover, you have a dry clutch.

He wrote that his new and engine braking failed machine is an 800...
I thought they were all wet clutch equipped...

[Chandler]

Well I don’t think it’s the sprague clutch. Hi and low it will very slowly Decellerate. And I mean slow. But it keeps the engine rpms up until stopped. So I suppose I will go to step 2 and try clicking the clutch to b2 and if that fails I will have to take it back to the dealer maybe. Going to hope for the best! I apreciate all the helpful info everyone!

[glenlivet]

Just to mention, I had a problem with nearly vanished engine braking on my wet clutch equipped King Quad and it was due to me changing the ECU mapping to one that did not let the engine throttle off completely when the machine was moving and the throttle was closed. All mechanical parts were intact, just that weird map let it idle properly when stopped but not fully return when moving.

[Cosmosdan]

Ok, all 800's are wet clutch. 500's are a bit more complicated. The 500ho, 550, & 500s use a cvtec primary that is dry and should be a plastic clutch cover. The x5, cf500, 500 classic & whatever else it has been called uses a wet clutch and the aluminum cover because the primary shaft needs to be supported on the end. It just gets confusing because they offered both at the same time.