I guess I subscribe to the "too much truck is better than not enough" school of thought. I had an F-150 and got rid of it in favor of my '97 Chevy C3500 crew cab dually. The 1-ton will safely pull just about whatever you want to hitch up to it. The old Ford would pull whatever you wanted, but the suspension always felt as if it were pushing the limits of what it could handle, even with the proper WD hitch.
I've seen a couple of people mention newer half tons making better tow vehicles than older models. I believe that's not necessarily true depending on the truck. I spend a lot of time at work between an '07 Dodge
1500 4x4 and an '07 Chevy Siverado half-ton 4x4. The Dodge, I would consider hitching an AS up to. The Chevy, I wouldn't want to tow my lawnmower across town with it. I'm sure it would pull the AS, but that doesn't mean I would feel comfortable with it. I attempted to pull a small Bobcat skid-steer loader with it one time, and made it less than a mile before I went back and got the Dodge to pull it.