Yesterday, my wife and I took possession of a brand new Z-800 Trail in Bright Blue. The Dealer told us that he doesn't sell them with a stock air filter because of all the dust on the trailers so he throws in a 2 stage air filter. Not sure what kind though.

Since we live in the Colorado Mountains, afternoon rainstorms are quite common, so we had him add a push out windshield, a rear full shield due to the vacuum effect and the lower side panels on the doors.

When we got it home, we took it for a spin on the local trails that are accessible from our driveways. The Wolford Mountain trail area has over a hundred miles of trails to explore and we can get there right from our driveway. After about 3 hours out on the trail, we realized that we had toured almost half of them. It is so easy to get lost in time and space while riding them.

One thing we both noticed is that there is a lot of heat being pumped into the cabin. Is that normal?

Now for my main question,  What should I do with it? What things should I upgrade?

I am thinking I want to give it a lift kit. All I have seen is a 2" lift kit. Is that enough of one? Being a trail wide unit, is that too much?

Since I am lifting it, that would allow bigger, and possibly wider tires. The wider tires would help make it a bit more stable, wouldn't it?

I was also thinking about a flag so that others could see me, or am I being a wuss?

The air intake will have to be re-routed eventually, that will have to be a winter job, but, I need to clear out my garage first.

What am I missing or what haven't I thought of?

Is a plow something worthwhile? I have a great snowthrower but, it is a beast to use. And I have a gravel driveway.

What about turn signals? This is our second car, so to speak. I can't drive a regular car wihtout someone in it with me as I get lost or come to a point where I can't drive due to a brain injury, but I can drive around town. And I was thinking that most people don't understand hand signals anymore.

What brand covers do most people use?

Sorry for the many questions, being new, I have a lot.

[2015 Z Force 800 53/Trail EPS]

Congrats. A lot of question and I'll give it a shot..mostly with my own personal opinion:

One thing we both noticed is that there is a lot of heat being pumped into the cabin. Is that normal?
Yes, it is normal and with the windshields you will feel it much more. There are however some things you can do to slow or almost stop it. Check out our How To section.

I am thinking I want to give it a lift kit. All I have seen is a 2" lift kit. Is that enough of one? Being a trail wide unit, is that too much?I personally don't recommend a lift kit on a trail because of the short suspension and the angles it places on the CV joints...but people do it and just deal with whatever the consequences. I suggest setting the preload to the most you can and still have a decent ride, then get a good set of skid plates someday.

Since I am lifting it, that would allow bigger, and possibly wider tires. The wider tires would help make it a bit more stable, wouldn't it?I would not go wider tires on the OE wheels besides there will be side clearance issues. Going to a 28" tire is very do-able though. You can also install 1.5" wheel spacers to extra stability. I did and it does help.

I was also thinking about a flag so that others could see me, or am I being a wuss?
If you ride where other are and there possibilities for accidents...absolutely. Its the responsible thing to do.

The air intake will have to be re-routed eventually, that will have to be a winter job, but, I need to clear out my garage first.
Just make sure the dealer install a Unifilter 2-stage and not the CFM two stage. They still let stuff get by.

What am I missing or what haven't I thought of?

Is a plow something worthwhile? I have a great snowthrower but, it is a beast to use. And I have a gravel driveway.
Nothing wrong with using a plow if you have enough driveway or road to justify. Sence its gravel make sure the one you get has the feet.

What about turn signals? This is our second car, so to speak. I can't drive a regular car wihtout someone in it with me as I get lost or come to a point where I can't drive due to a brain injury, but I can drive around town. And I was thinking that most people don't understand hand signals anymore.Talk to your dealer about the parts needed to install the OE turn signals. Also there are some general kits out there you can get as well.

What brand covers do most people use?
I keep mine in my shop but bought a cheap one from Amazon tor the camping trips.

I'm curious why you chose a trail model if you ultimately wanted to lift the machine. Do you "need" a 50" machine or more clearance for your trails?

I agree with Clark. Taller tires, like 28s will give you an additional inch of lift without adding to CVJ angles, but you should consider re-clocking the CVT if you do this. You can gain some height with different shocks as well (More travel, higher spring rate) without adding much to CVJ angles but this can get expensive. However, the ride improvement is thought to be well worth it.


Bracket lifts only put more stress on the CV joints, but it's a cost effective alternative (until you start replacing driveline parts).

Wow!!

Wonderful info!

I will check on the filter. I don't think it is the cfmoto one, but Unifilter does ring a bell for some reason.

Will the 28" tires fit on the OE rims or do I need new wheels?

Any recommendations on tires? And if I need wheels, what about those?

As for why I chose the Trail model, we do have some 50" trails only in our area. And, due to availability in our area (Halfway between Silverthorne and Steamboat and 2 hours outside of Denver) we could only find Z800 Trails, Teryx 850 4 place. CanAm 1000 Turbo's. In other words, $13K machines or mid $25K machines or very long waits. Since we weren't sure how much we would use the machine (we are heading out for a second ride in two days) we couldn't justify spending more than the Z800.

What is the bolt spacing for the spacers? is a 2" one too wide? I see a lot of those when I search. Or is the 1.5" the recommended width? 3" overall is quite a bit.

Thanks again for all the help.

[2015 Z Force 800 53/Trail EPS]

Wow!!

Wonderful info!

I will check on the filter. I don't think it is the cfmoto one, but Unifilter does ring a bell for some reason.

Will the 28" tires fit on the OE rims or do I need new wheels?

Any recommendations on tires? And if I need wheels, what about those?

As for why I chose the Trail model, we do have some 50" trails only in our area. And, due to availability in our area (Halfway between Silverthorne and Steamboat and 2 hours outside of Denver) we could only find Z800 Trails, Teryx 850 4 place. CanAm 1000 Turbo's. In other words, $13K machines or mid $25K machines or very long waits. Since we weren't sure how much we would use the machine (we are heading out for a second ride in two days) we couldn't justify spending more than the Z800.

What is the bolt spacing for the spacers? is a 2" one too wide? I see a lot of those when I search. Or is the 1.5" the recommended width? 3" overall is quite a bit.

Thanks again for all the help.

Tires- the 28" x 9s for the front and 11s for the back will fit the OE wheels fine. If you were to go with a different wheel, I would suggest going all the same as in all 14x7" and then going with all 28x10x14" tires. Be sure to get an 8ply tire though. The lug pattern is 4/110 with 10mm studs and they are all lug-centric not hub-centric. And go with the 1.5" as they won't be so hard on the bearings, ball joints and bushings. These are what I used:  https://www.ebay.com/itm/4X-1-5-ATV-4X110-10x1-25-Wheel-Spacers-For-Honda-Kawasaki-Suzuki-Yamaha/272516506666?_trkparms=aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20201210111314%26meid%3D811291e5d94b45829290bbf893c3e10b%26pid%3D101195%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D12%26mehot%3Dag%26sd%3D312524240258%26itm%3D272516506666%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DSimplAMLv9PairwiseUnbiasedWeb%26brand%3DECCPP&_trksid=p2047675.c101195.m1851

Congrats and welcome. I too have a Trail 800.
I would not be in any rush ti lift it for all the very good reasons already stated. I haven't lifted mine. I figure that if I get a very good skid plate then if it's going to touch down now and again, so what! On that point you do want a good skid plate quite soon. The stock efforts are quite inadequate and don't offer any but the most rudimentary and temporary coverage. Mine broke off quite soon.
I get some heat from the rad through the firewall openings, not objectionable though.
Good reading (on here) and happy motoring.

Good advice!  Skid plates are a must to protect the underside including the side rock sliders. The plastic plate it comes with is pretty flimsy.

Not a cheap add-on, but necessary if you are on rocky low clearance trails.

Tires- the 28" x 9s for the front and 11s for the back will fit the OE wheels fine. If you were to go with a different wheel, I would suggest going all the same as in all 14x7" and then going with all 28x10x14" tires. Be sure to get an 8ply tire though. The lug pattern is 4/110 with 10mm studs and they are all lug-centric not hub-centric. And go with the 1.5" as they won't be so hard on the bearings, ball joints and bushings. These are what I used:  https://www.ebay.com/itm/4X-1-5-ATV-4X110-10x1-25-Wheel-Spacers-For-Honda-Kawasaki-Suzuki-Yamaha/272516506666?_trkparms=aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20201210111314%26meid%3D811291e5d94b45829290bbf893c3e10b%26pid%3D101195%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D12%26mehot%3Dag%26sd%3D312524240258%26itm%3D272516506666%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DSimplAMLv9PairwiseUnbiasedWeb%26brand%3DECCPP&_trksid=p2047675.c101195.m1851

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Thanks everyone,
I ordered the wheel spacers as you suggested, it makes sense.

Also, I ordered an UHMW skid plate from Rival. 
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/e11051.m43.l1123/7?euid=f9eb9931765b4eb7b061227598701dc7&bu=45012918132&segname=11051&crd=20210523204054&osub=-1~1&ch=osgood&loc=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F133430004541&sojTags=bu=bu,ch=ch,segname=segname,crd=crd,url=loc,osub=osub

Plus a UTV cover that is supposed to fit the Z8 Trail, a center rear view mirror, some header insulation tape and some insulation/sound deadening self stick panels. The insulation wrap and panels are supposed to keep the heat in the engine and in the engine bay.

Thanks for the tip on looking in the how to portion of the forum, I found out about the header wrap there. The guy only wrapped the cylinder head closet to the passenger bay. I have always read that you need to all headers to balance out the heat distribution. Heat will always migrate to cold. The sound deadening/heat absorption panels will hopefully kill two birds with one application. Cut down on CV whine and heat control.

I have a 2020 800 Trail and went to a 27" Tusk Terrabite and gained some ground clearance (as well as a stronger 8 ply tire).  The trail model is a compromise but I chose it as it was important to be able to access the numerous 50" limited trails.  The 50" trails around here have the trail limiting post gates and my machine would not fit between them with the wheel spacers.   Probably the best mod I've done is the full 9 piece Ricochet skid plates.  I've taken my 800 Trail over many of the extremely rocky Colorado mountain trails (Hancock Pass, Hermit Pass, Mt. Antero, etc.) and you just have to take it a bit slower and plan your line a bit more carefully but my Trail has handled them all very well.  The skid plates are awesome when you do have that rock to machine contact. 

Here is what i did with my 2021 800 Trail
https://cfmoto-forum.com/800ex800/2021-cfmoto-zforce-800-trail-turn-signal-wiring/
If you have questions 304-661-3089