back in 00' my ol' man leased a 00' F-150, then in 03' he bought a new one..
that being the first 1/2 ton pickup he had owned in 24 years, and the first gas powered one in 16 years..
he kep the old 89' F-250 diesel around for "real towing"
after a few months, he yanked insurance on the old truck and parked it.
Having pulled with both, I'd venture to say the new 1/2 ton pulls almost every bit as well as the old 3/4 ton HD did.
The only things it misses out on, are the 1/2 tons sprigns and tires are softer(who woulda thought?) and the 7.3 had slightly more low end grunt than the 5.4 does.
As far as handling down the road, I think they are pretty close, on brakes the f-150's huge 4 wheel disc's stop it a bit better than the F-250 did, with OR without trailer brakes.
Having pulled alot of miles with the trucks, varrying from 500-10,000LB's.. I will say I never ONCE felt the truck "couldn't handle it" but I also know it doesn't pull like a 3/4 or 1 ton pulls like( or the semis I've pulled with for that matter

)
the only gripe I've had with the F-150's are they come under geared from the factory.
Again, thats just my expirance with the new F-150's. I have no towing expirance with the chevy or dodge, so I can't really comment on them.