I'm saddled with a huge 4-door longbed pickup and not a day goes by that I didn't wish I was back in my shortbed 4x4 Ranger. My full-size gets better mileage in town than my Ranger did, and about the same on the highway, but I hate driving something everyday that's too long to fit in most parking downtown. I've been driving this aircraft carrier for 7 years--daily for much of it with occasional breaks when I don't have to take kids somewhere or haul something and can use a little shitbox car I keep around. A single guy, I would own a Ranger. You can set up a Ranger to tow. The payload of a Ranger is about the same as an F150--about 1,500#. I hauled firewood in a 6' Ranger bed just fine--just needed more trips. I carried my 900# garden tractor in the bed of my Ranger--just had to take the deck off and put it on the tailgate. I carried 4x8 sheets by placing boards in the pockets they provide for the purpose. I pulled a small travel trailer.
With a Ranger-sized gooseneck trailer, you could handle larger loads than a frame hitch can. That's my plan. I think a suitably modified Ranger can handle 8,000# on a gooseneck, which is the heaviest load I NEED to tow. The crewcab diesel is really only a convenience a couple of times a month now that most of my kids are in school most of the year. I'm itching to get back into a little truck. A Ranger, properly outfitted, is the best little truck there is and there is certainly no reason to pine for an F150. An F150 is a paper tiger in my opinion. If you want a truck that will carry stuff, make sure it has a full-floating axle. Otherwise, you might as well own a Ranger because that big bed on an F150 is easily overloaded. If you have a full floating 3/4-1 ton, you can't break the axle. You have four big spindle bearings holding the load instead of two little axle shaft bearing--which any semi-float has. I don't care what you put on a full-float--something else will break before the axle. I've seen lots of semifloats fail.
Keep the Ranger. Only move to a HD pickup if you need to.