I just bought a 2018 Zforce 1000. I took it for the first drive last night and when I was going down a hill in low gear the engine break was completely disengaging. It was like it was going into neutral. I have been driving a belt drive machine for many years (2013 can am 1000 outlander) and it has never done that. When I hit the gas it engages again but when it gets going slow it will disengage again. Is this normal for these machines?


Thanks

[2015 Z Force 800 53/Trail EPS]

With all these when the engine side disconnects from the drive side it will freewheel. For belt-slammers (I hate the term) it will always be when the primary's movable sheave moves out of contact with or disengages with the belt. Without any extra device to hold the spider in against the belt like Kawasaki and some others have, that release point is generally between 6-9mph in high range and 4-6 mph in low range. You can cause it to stay engaged longer by increasing the slider/roller weight...but that also causes faster shiftout and loss of low end power. Also..you can cause it to stay in longer by setting the deflection to it's very minimum. A stretched belt will require a primary to move in farther to engage but also release sooner on the back side. Might check it. It may be wrong from the factory. Wouldn't surprise me one bit.   

I had a brief opportunity to see one of these with the clutch cover off. To my disappointment I could rotate the driven clutch either direction. What NMK describes, when the movable half of the drive clutch moves away from the belt.....free wheel.

Can am uses a sprag on the shaft of the drive clutch that the drive belt rides on. When the speed of driven clutch exceeds the speed of the drive clutch(such as coasting down hill) the sprag clutch locks & engine brake is engaged. As you slow down to a near stop & the drive clutch speeds exceeds the driven clutch speed the clutch disengages. It has worked very well, it needs 100 hour maintenance that very few do. Idle speed must be kept low as well or shift issues show up.

I won't use the term belt slammer as that suggests to me extremely bad clutch calibration. This is the clutch set up I'm very comfortable with, living & riding in the mountains as a sledder. You can calibrate much easier with a wide range of options. So the Can Am is very easy to tune & modify for big wheels & tires, power options etc. Ski Doo is very similar less the sprag clutch.

BS aside the Z1000 clutch set up will let you easily tune area's that is very difficult with a wet clutch. Big heavy large wheel tire combo's can get the engagement rpm moved up with a simple spring change in the drive clutch. You can lower the engagement rpm the same way or if you need a higher shift rpm because you are in elevation & you don't want to influence the engagement......change the spring to a higher finish rate.

The engine brake is a major let down as the sprag clutch is simple & effective. NMK has offered good baseline checks that need to be right, I would add clutch alignment with tight belt shimming of the drive clutch movable half.

The 800 and 1000 are different in that the 800's CVT is wet (in oil centrifugal) clutch and an over-running (sprague, one way) clutch while the 1000 has a dry clutch meaning for the machine to idle in gear, the front clutch opens so far that the belt becomes slack.
There's no sprague on the 1000 like CTDLS said, so when the machine slows past a certain point on a downhill the front clutch opens right up and without service brakes the machine would go on a Nantucket sleighride. (a longboat attached to a harpooned whale by a thick rope)

Unless the operator gives it more throttle and re-engages the CVT.

I made a little youtube demo, a bit smartass but shows the difference.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgfHsmWdcLo