1. Will an F150 (97-03) shell fit on a short bed F250? By "fit" I dont mean will rest on the bed rails, but actually, fits.

2. The "BOOT" design. I looked at one, and I heard they rub paint off the cab. Sure enough, it was on the guys truck. Are there ways to prevent this, or is it better to avoid the boot in general.

 

If you saw it with your own two eyes, I’d say avoid the boot. If you are worried about pass-thru capability and cleaning, most cap manufacturers offer a flip down forward window option. I had this on my last truck and it worked great. Good luck! I’ll be ordering my ARE TW series soon

 

I'm not worried about pass through or anything. But a nice shell is on CL for $400 but it had a boot. All others are 1000+

 

Pretty tough to turn down a good deal huh? If you get it you could use some sort of paint protecting film. I believe that 3M makes such a product. I can’t answer your fitment question, but I do know that starting at a certain year the tailgate design became a factor.

 

Negative, the 150 boxes are different enough from the SD boxes that they won't fit. I looked at them while searching for a cap for my truck. I measured them side by side and they're different. Tailgates and taillights are identical however.

 

I believe the F-150 has a shorter box, like 6' where as the Superduty has a 6.75' box.

As far as concerns for changes to boxes between years, and fitment of earlier/later year caps, if you can save substantial $$$'s, don't be afraid to buy the cap and adjust the door of the cap to fit. I have an late 1990's cap on my 2012, required adjusting the bottome of cap door by bending aluminum plate to match the wider tail gate profile, and adjusting fit a little. works and looks great. Brother-in-law has a new eco-boost that he installed his old cap from his 2004 f-150. Again, minor adjustment fits great, seals great, and saves a boatload of money.

BTW, I bought the older cap off CL for a great price. My truck is Pearl white metalic. The cap was Black. I am more of a function type of person, my wife convinced me I needed to be more concerned about looks. To match the truck would require a quart of paint plus the necissary hardners and "stuff" The cost for Fords color was over 500$ and not a gauranteed color match since the paint supplier did not have a tech to run there scan equipment when I bought the paint. So, I purchased a generic white pearl metalic from color matching chips. I paid 300 for the paint and got a good (not perfect) match. My wife is happy, that is all that matters. The cap is only used in the winter, as I pull a 5th wheel in the summer

 

the super duty box is tapered as it goes back, plus the F150 had that strange undercut where the top of the box met the bottom corner of the rear glass. i ran a pre-97 topper on my last truck for a couple years in the fall and it fit, but didn't fit exactly right. that was a long box though too.

 

Keep watching craigslist!
Shells are very common on craigslist, so if you just keep watching you should come across a good deal on one that fits.

I picked up my Leer for $500, and it has the removable front window and roof rails. It was the wrong color, but even after having it painted to match I spent less than half of what a new one would be.