Buying a Used Camper Shell: Tips and Compatibility Info

Author:
Tom Zizzo
Updated:
Nov 11, 2023 7:04 AM EST

Photo from an actual Craigslist ad. This shell was obviously NOT for this truck, but it seems to fit. You will see used tops sold like this a lot; always measure them before you buy.

A Guide to Buying Used Camper Shells

Given the overwhelming number of questions I have received about used camper shells, I thought it might be useful to write a little guide to buying used tops. First I'll tell you a few things to watch out for, and then I'll break down the differences in truck bed dimensions for different makes and models.

A used top selling for far below what it cost new may sound like a great deal, but make sure it fits and make sure if something is broken, it can be fixed and what that costs.

What to look for in a used camper shell

A used shell that is damaged may not be cost-effective to repair.
A used shell may have come from a different truck than the one it’s sitting on, so you want to measure your own truck.
Truck beds, especially more recent ones, aren't necessarily rectangular; they may taper and not have that rectangular shape you think they have.
Sometimes the shape of the rails and the shape of the cab and tailgate may complicate the fit.
Tonneaus need to fit more exactly than shells do, sort of.
If a used Leer or SnugTop shell has a serial number, you can call the company and try to find out what truck the cover was made for. If it's really old, they may not have the info available.

A damaged shell may not be much of a deal

The window on this used top is separating from the frame. There is no way to fix this, despite what the seller says. Silicone will not do it, and you cannot replace a pane of glass on these windows; the window itself has to be replaced.

Keep in mind that if major parts of the top you are looking at are broken, you need to look into the price of replacing those parts before you take advantage of that "deal of the century." Far too many times, I have seen used tops for sale where the seller thinks the repair is simple. In the photo above, the glass is coming away from the frame leaving a big gap. This part of the window should be sealed. The repair in that photo is at least $250, and that's just for the parts.

The seller may not even know what truck the shell was made for

I saw the top above for sale on Craigslist. The ad says it came off a 2000 Ranger, and it now sits on a 2001 S-10. I can tell this is an old SnugTop—by the ridge in the roofline—and it probably came off a pre-'93 Ranger. The dimensions though are close enough.

It’s important to remember that sometimes people will have tops on their trucks that they themselves have bought used, and often that top was not designed for that truck. A dead giveaway is if the top is not the same color as the truck. If you think the fit looks good, and your truck is the same as theirs, no problem; but if you’re trying to make a top made for an unknown truck fit your own truck, you’re on your own, to a certain extent.

Truck beds by make, model and year

Here is some information, broken out by make, about which years had which body styles. It will help you know what to expect when you shop for a used top to match your truck bed.

Ford Trucks

Ford 150/250

1980-1996. From 1980 to 1996, Ford F150/250 trucks had essentially identical beds.

1997-2003(4). In 1997, the Ford F150 was radically changed, most notably by making the bed tapered, meaning it’s wider in the front than it is in the rear. This was initially only done to the F150 line; the F250 and F350 heavy duty trucks remained the same until 1999, when Ford introduced the Superduty.

2004-2008. The F150 changed its body style and bed again in 2004 (except that in the 2004 F150 Heritage Edition, the bed and body are the same as the '97 to 2003 truck). The F150 would remain the same until 2009, when the bed changed; but it changed only slightly, check the top of the rear corners of a new F150 bed and compare it to a 2004-08, you’ll see what I mean. Superdutys really haven’t changed much, as far as the bed is concerned, except that in about 2008 some Superdutys, not all of them, began including a fold-out step built into the tailgate. If your truck has it, the shell door will need to compensate for it. Leer and SnugTop shells have special molded pieces on the bottom of the door to account for it.

2009 -2014. The F150 has gone through some changes, mainly the rear, and the bow to the tailgate area that most of the new trucks have now.
2015- 2020: If you look at the back end of the new F150's, you'll notice that the bow to the rear tailgate area is wider, and angled, in a way. Overall the bed looks the same from the previous generation, but this wider rear bow will most certainly affect top compatibility.

2021-present - Yes, the new F150 has changed ever so slightly from 2020, most notably the lip on the tailgate piece. Camper shells have been retooled to reflect this change. The Lightning doesn't technically complicate the fit. Some molds might have unique tailgate skirts, but whether the shell was made for Lightning or not, it should still fit.

1999 - 2008 The heavier duty trucks, i.e., the F250 and 350s, came in the form of the new 'Superduty' in 1999. It pretty much remained the same, with the exception of adding a pull-out tailgate step in 2008, which is technically an option. This is important because tops on 2008 or newer Superdutys will have rear doors that can accommodate this step, that is if the truck has the option. If you try to put a top from a 2004, for example, on a 2009 that has the step in the tailgate, it's not going to fit over that bulge. Yes, most top manufacturers can change out that rear door, but beware, those rear doors are NOT cheap.

2008 - 2016 -the F250 and F350s in these years are mostly the same. The only footnote has to do with the step in the tailgate (see above). It wasn't until 2017 that Ford made major changes to the Superduty-most notably, the rear tailgate that has that half octagon shape to it.

2017 to 2022 -The newer Superduty trucks are slightly different than the previous years, most notably the octagon-shaped tailgate, there are other changes as well. The longbed on these trucks is darn near 9 feet now.

2023 to current - Yes, the new Superduty is a little different than the previous generations.

A 2008 Superduty. Notice the molded piece on the back door of the shell that covers up the step that comes out of the tailgate on this truck.

Notice on this new F150 how the taillight is different than on the '04 to 2008 trucks, and that little corner flares out. This is really the only difference with the new F150s.
SnugTop

A 1997 F250 top on a 1999 F250

Technically this shouldn't fit, but the rails on the Superduty are wide enough that it fits on the inside rail. On the outside you can see the difference in fit.

Notice how the bed on the Superduty tapers, and the shell does not.

Superduty Top on a 97 - 2003 F150

Here you can see the differences between the 'newer' F150 and Superduty trucks, how much taller and wider the F250/F350 beds are.

Notice how much taller the Superduty top is, and how it 'hooks' in the rear corners to cover up the F250 bed caps.

Chevy (1996 Silverado) Top on Ford F150 (2004 to 2008)

Ford Ranger

1983-1992. Ford Rangers have been around since 1983, and stayed the same all the way up to 1992.

1993 to 2011(Mazda trucks-94-11). Rangers haven't changed much since 1993, except that the flareside bed, also referred to as the Ranger Splash bed, is different. It should be noted that there isn't a huge difference between the 83 to 92 Ranger beds and the 93 to 2012 beds, in other words, an old Ranger top fits the newer Ranger beds, the cab is just a little boxier in shape.

2019 to present The all-new Ranger is kind of unique. It has a very short cab height, and the bed length is under 6 feet for the extra cab trucks and less than 5 feet for the crew cab models.

Mazda Trucks

Any Mazda truck built from 1994 to now is identical to a Ford Ranger, for our purposes. In the 1998 to 2006 Mazda B-Series trucks, there is a slight difference: basically, the bed on those trucks has slightly narrower rails. Most shell manufacturers did not change their molds to deal with this variation. I think SnugTop is the only company that has a specific Mazda mold, if that is even still available. But honestly, it’s not that much different than the Ranger mold.

Older Mazda trucks, from 1985 to 1993 have three different beds, the long bed, short bed regular cab, and the cabplus bed. The standard cab trucks have nearly identical bed dimensions to the old Toyota beds, and even the first gen Tacoma beds. Most of the old import mini trucks are around 60" wide and 75-76" long, and the old Mazdas are no different. Just remember that the old extended cab Toyota trucks have a lean or angle to the front of the top.

Nissan/Toyota Shell on Mazda

This is MY truck, yes, mine. The shell was on an 89 Toyota, but it was actually made for an 80's Nissan Hardbody. Most old imports are around 60" wide and about 76" long-19 to 20" tall. -cab plus beds are an inch and half SHORTER though.

Chevy / GM Trucks

Chevy Silverado, GMC Sierra

1973-1987. It’s important to remember that from 1973 to 1987, full-size GM trucks had perfectly rectangular beds. That changed in 1988 when they became tapered, much like Ford's did in 1997. If you have a crew cab 1988 Chevy/GMC, however, it still has the 1987 body and bed.

1988-1998. The full-size Chevy Silverado pickups and GMC Sierras are the same from 1988 to 1998.

1999-2006: The Silverado/Sierra changed in 1999; however, some '99 models, specifically the heavy duty 3500 model crew cabs, are the older body style. The full-size GM trucks changed again, like I said, in 1999. The 1999 to 2006 models are called the "classic" Chevys.

2007-2013. The full-sized GM trucks changed again in 2007, but you have to be careful with 2007, because GM introduced the new truck mid-year. Thus a few 2007s still have the ‘06 body, which GM refers to as the "classic" body. The heavy-duty trucks retained the classic body until 2008.
Up until 2007, the beds were the same between a GMC and Chevy, but for the 07 to 13 generation, the bed on the Silverado is actually NOT identical to the bed of the Sierra. The insides of the beds are the same; it’s the outside rails that are slightly different. The differences are very subtle, but they do affect the fit of most hard tonneau covers and bedliners. Try putting an over-the-rail GMC liner in a Chevy bed of those years and you’ll see what I mean; one is just slightly wider than the other toward the rear of the bed. Could you fit a new Sierra shell on a Silverado bed? Yeah, probably the fit would be fine, but for a perfect fit, you’ll want to match make to make.

2014 - 2018. The brand new trucks have this different shape to the rear (tailgate) area there, which for a brand new top means the back door is unique to this model year. Other than that, most of the dimensions are roughly the same. I know the lumber rack part numbers have not changed. Thankfully, the Chevy/GMC trucks are back to being the same in every way for fit and compatibility, unlike the 7 to 13 trucks.

2019- currrent. The new Chevy and GMCs are different, mostly the cab shape, and I have heard that the GMC and Chevy are different this time around. Similar to other generations, the heavy duty (2500/3500) trucks are the older body style.

2020- current 2500/3500 HD trucks are larger than the 1500 trucks. Not much difference between GMC and Chevy, though watch out for the carbon pro beds, they require different camper shell mount kits. The beds on these trucks are longer and wider, and a taller cab. I have seen someone put a 1500 shell on a 2500 bed, surprisingly, it fit the tailgate skirt, but was nearly two inches shorter in length.

Chevy S-10/Colorado, GMC S-15/Sonoma/Canyon

1982-1993: The "S-10 years." GMC called this truck the S-15 or Sonoma.

1994-2003: The S-10 totally changed in 1994 and stayed that way until 2004.

2004-2014: After 2004, the old S-10 became known as the Chevy Colorado or the GMC Canyon. The shell for a '94 to 2004 S-10 will most likely not fit the new Colorado/Canyons.

2015-2022: The all-new Canyon/Colorado is a very different truck compared to its predecessors. Tops from previous years will most likely not fit these trucks.

2023 to current -these trucks are all now and now have a style more like the fullsize trucks.

Older Top on 2016 Fullsize Chevy

The shell on this new GM truck was originally for a 2007

Notice how it sits on the back tailgate-where the rear door now, on new tops, molds over the top of that tailgate.

A 2010 Shell on a 2018 Chevy: Doesn't Quite Work

This is a 2011 shell on a new 2018 Chevy-hard to notice it doesn't really work (fit)

It's very close, but as you can see, the rear is different, enough that the door will not shut

The door will not shut, no matter how hard you try, it was not made to fit the new Chevy

07-13 Chevy on a 07-13 GMC bed

Notice the subtle differences to the shape of the bed. They look the same, until you try to fit one top from the other.

From a distance, it looks pretty good, but look closely, the GMC bed is different than the Chevy shell.

F150 Top on a Chevy/GMC

This is a 1997 to 2003 F150 top on a classic body Chevy/GMC (1999 to 2006)

Here's another 97-03 F150 top on a 07 to 13 Chevy/GM bed.

This is a Tundra shell (current body Tundra) on an 88 to 98 Chevy. The fit is not good, too wide and too much front angle.

Notice the front slope, great for the Tundra, but not for this truck.

Toyota Trucks

"Toyota Truck" (SR5), Tacoma

The basic Toyota Truck is sometimes called the SR5.

1984-88. Some pre-1989 Toyota Trucks have have what is called a "Japanese" bed, meaning the bed rails roll to the outside. On just about any truck today, you access the underside of a bed rail from the inside of the bed, but a "Japanese" bed rail is only accessed from the outside. I don’t know much about what will fit Japanese beds, since by the time I started selling camper shells these trucks were fairly old and I rarely saw one come into the shop looking for a shell.

This is a 1985 Toyota with the imported or "Japanese"-style bed. Notice how the rails roll to the outside. Earlier years of this truck only used Japanese beds, but for this year, both Japanese and non-Japanese styles exist.

1989-94: From 1989 to 1994, the basic Toyota truck didn’t change much, except for the addition of a third brake light in '94, something I already talked about. The bed is essentially the same as on the 1984-88 truck.

1995-2004: Midway through 1995, Toyota introduced the Tacoma, a name still used today, and the Tacoma stayed the same up until 2004. Will a shell from an older SR5-type Toyota fit a 1996 to 2004 Tacoma? Kind of. It will sit lower than the height of the cab, but the inside of the bed is actually the same as the older SR5 trucks. There are also differences between extended-cab shells and standard-cab shells on the 1989 to 2004 models.If you take a shell built for an extended cab and try to fit it to a standard cab, it will most likely rub the top of the cab, since it has an angle to it to compensate for the angle of the extended cab.

2005-2015. In 2005, the Tacoma changed a lot. The new Tacomas have a composite bed: basically it’s all plastic, except for the outer skin and rear pillars. You cannot fit anything on these trucks that is not designed specifically for the post-2004 Tacoma. Whether you have an "access" cab, crew cab, or standard cab, there is no angle built into the shell, so you can swap one over to the other—just make sure you have the right bed length for the crew cab.

2016 - The all-new 2016 Tacoma IS different than the previous body style, the bed went through the same type of change we saw on the F150's and other types of beds.