Single Cab F450

[ScaleLifeNewbie]

Yet another build. I need rehab lol.


Picked up a CEN F450 KG1 Edition in Silver when they first released. I almost got the first version they released, but I was hesitant. My original plan was to get the American Force and make my own grille, but When I seen the KG1 edition had minor fixes including replacing the ugly as sin aftermarket grille with an OEM one, I knew I had to get one.

About a week later it was sitting on the bench. (I can’t believe I didn’t get an out of the box picture!) charged up a battery and took her for a spin. Wow, what a blast! Unlocked diffs make donuts very easy on smooth surface and it’s pretty fast on 2s. On stock electronics and stock gearing, my 3500mah 2S lasted about 15 mins lol.

(Not my truck)


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Veterans deserve a whole month too…

 

[ScaleLifeNewbie]

First mod done was locking the diffs. I originally was going to lock both front and rear axles, but decided on just the rear for now. If I feel the need for the front, I will.

Of course I didn’t get a picture of the rear diff either, but all I did was put some steel reinforced JB weld on the spider gears inside the diff. I wanted to get the spool CEN sells, but they were out of stock.

Next mod up wasn’t planned right away, but nevertheless it is installed now…one less thing to do later, right? I installed a Hobbywing 1060 ESC after I reversed polarity on my battery and smoked the stock esc. I went with the 1060 for simplicity reasons. Hobbywing 1060 is pretty much plug n play (besides a battery connector) already having motor leads, and it’s plenty good for a trail truck. While I was at it I threw in a Reedy 16T 5 Slot I had on hand to not only slow the truck down, but also to hopefully save some battery life. Maybe down the road I’ll do brushless, but I’d rather do that AFTER the driveline is up to par.

Great! Now that’s all in, what’s next..?


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Veterans deserve a whole month too…

 

[ScaleLifeNewbie]

Next up, body mods!

99% of the F450s I see are the same ol same ol, 4 door dually in either blue, grey or red. I’d rather my truck stand out, so I was thinking about how I can do that.

So I decided to do the extreme and cut up my brand new body into a regular cab. Yes, you read that right. Couple reasons why I’m doing this:

I like single cabs more than Crew cabs
Shortens the wb which equals better performance(although not my goal)
And different than every other CEN F450 you’ve seen.

So, I got to measuring and cutting. I found out I could use(mostly)stock components and it won’t be too hacked up. So I broke out the dremel and started cutting the frame. Shortened the wb from 17.5” to about 13. Took around 4” out of the cab, bed untouched. I had to use a 12.3 TRX4 lower link as the new drag link in the rear. I realistically need a tad bit longer link, but this’ll do for now. Also need a little bit longer dogbone for the rear driveshaft, around 120mm

As far as the seam on the body, I have a headache rack on the way to kind of hide the seam because I won’t be able to get it perfect.

I’m not good at giving a full run down, sorry this is not so detailed. If you have any questions or concerns let me know[emoji1687]

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Veterans deserve a whole month too…

 

[Brake Weight]

Looks like a show truck.

 

[Bananaclip]

I would get that spool ordered up for good measure. Good luck on the build.


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[AK KRAWLER]

I am definitely a crew cab guy, but your chop looks pretty tough man, great job!!!

This is one truck I really want to get at some point.

**EDIT** The inevitable just happened... Somehow, one was ordered and has been delivered and in pretty much record time for shipping to AK. I am super excited to get a look at this thing and start the "mod" process. Thanks SLN for pushing me over the cliff on this one!

 

[ScaleLifeNewbie]

I would get that spool ordered up for good measure. Good luck on the build.


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Yeah for sure, I’m not too confident on how long my diff will last lol.

I am definitely a crew cab guy, but your chop looks pretty tough man, great job!!!

This is one truck I really want to get at some point.

Thank you[emoji1687]

I highly recommend this truck. With a few simple mods it can be a really good tow rig/trail truck. The biggest thing about this is it’s really, and I mean really, light. It weighs probably half of my TRX4.

Looks like a show truck.

Thank you, hopefully my next few mods will get rid of the show truck look lol. Going for more of a daily driver you can take offroad.


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[Goro Majima]

Alright this is pretty cool and I actually like single cab duallies in real life. Following along for this one.

 

[twade984]

Single cab FTW!


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[ScaleLifeNewbie]

I just put a few things on order for this truck, hopefully they’ll be here in the next week or so so we can get this thread updated!


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TRX4 Sport
Single Cab F450
VS410 Yota
Blitz Concept One

 

[smog]

It doesn’t look beat-on enough for a SLN build....:ror:

Jokes aside, you think you can get her to crawl some lava rock?

 

[ScaleLifeNewbie]

It doesn’t look beat-on enough for a SLN build....:ror:

Jokes aside, you think you can get her to crawl some lava rock?

Lol, I try and keep some things nice..

Although not my goal, I will try it out and see what’s she’s got. I took it to the beach once in stock form(4 door, unlocked diffs)and it was a blast. It’s definitely not going to win any comps, but locked diffs and some softer tires, I think she can. Especially not being city bus sized anymore.


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Veterans deserve a whole month too…

 

[AK KRAWLER]

Interested to see what parts you got coming :twisted:

I really dig mine so far. Lifted, on larger tires, locked diff’s, HH Crawlmaster Sport and a HW 1080. I still have some tweaking to do, but it’s been a blast so far "thumbsup"

 

[ScaleLifeNewbie]

Still waiting on parts.

In the meantime, I need to figure out a rear driveshaft. The stock one had 2 smaller dogbones with a carrier bearing in the middle, but go figure they are just a tad bit too short. I know what size I need (139mm) but they problem is the stock drive cups are made for a really small dogbone end and I have no way to tell what size the ones I order are until I have them in hand.

So my question is, what would you do? I can’t just cut and stretch the dogbone since I don’t have access to a welder, and I don’t want to order a ton of dogbones and hope they work lol. Or I could get a solid rod and try and make one. Idk I’m running out of ideas.


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[Goro Majima]

Take some measurements of the dogbone cup shafts. Perhaps you can fit some other output shaft at the diff to convert to conventional driveshafts.

 

[ScaleLifeNewbie]

I actually ended up meeting with a friend of mine who has a welder and gave him the chassis to stretch the factory dogbone to fit. That way I don’t have to worry about them fitting, converting to regular driveshafts, etc. Should work out good.


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[ScaleLifeNewbie]

Now that I have the F450 back from my buddy I can finish up putting a few things on it.

First things first we have the headache rack. This is the Exclusive RC Rack for the Proline Utility bed. It is now discontinued, and I can see why. It is an extremely overpriced print and super brittle due to it having next to none infill. It being this small there’s no excuse to not have it completely solid, especially for $30. Not trying to bash on them, because they make some pretty neat stuff, but I feel this was just a lazy design. Oh well, it’ll work until my printer shows up.

Next was a stack. This is made from an old towel rod in brushed nickel. I cut it to size and then found a locknut/bolt that was just a bit too big and tapped it into the rod, creating a nice friction fit. I then cut a hole in the bed floor and put the bolt in through the bottom with 2 washers. A little flat black paint and she’s done.

Next mod was completely unnecessary(aren’t they all?) and probably no one will notice, but it always bugged me. On Ford tow mirrors, they have a divider in the mirror for two different mirrors, the CEN did not. Simple fix with some MEK, black paint and styrene. Looks a lot better IMO. I don’t why I didn’t think of this until after, but I could’ve just used a black sharpie and not have gotten paint of the mirror sticker. Oh well.

Now I just need to get the connector on the 1060 switched and she’ll be in business.


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[TITANIUM94010]

Looking good! I really like the smokestack.

You can give it a nice burnt/heat anodized look by carefully holding it to a flame, if that interests you. Join lines between the lexan pieces are very good, and the headache rack adds a nice touch. Great job!

 

[ScaleLifeNewbie]

Looking good! I really like the smokestack.

You can give it a nice burnt/heat anodized look by carefully holding it to a flame, if that interests you. Join lines between the lexan pieces are very good, and the headache rack adds a nice touch. Great job!

Hey thanks TITANIUM!

Good idea on the burnt look as well, I’ll probably try that on the inside of the stack just to add a little more detail. I’m not too happy with the lexan joints when viewing from the backside of it, but from the front you can hardly see it. I may end up redoing a new cab with a butt-joint. I’ve even thought about picking up a second one[emoji23]


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[ScaleLifeNewbie]

Edit: wrong build thread lol. Update for this truck sometime this week.

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Amain Addict