My experience will be tainted by wheelbase, but here it goes.
96 GMC Yukon 4 door, 5.7 Vortec, intake, exhaust headers, flash. Towed a 7k travel trailer with a equalizer hitch.
I thought it did really well, Drove it once without the equalizer, and swore I'd never tow without an equalizer again. That was flat out scary. With the bars set for the hitch, it did well. It got close to 20mpg highway unloaded, and 10 pulling.
98 Dodge Cummins 12 valve X cab short bed. Full Banks hooplah under the hood, MBRP exhaust, suncoast trans, 33" tires. Leveling kit and airbags (Since someone always asks, it's not a quad cab, it's a 2 door X cab with a shortbed, and yes it came that way). Tows a 14' bubbas 7K GVW trailer with my fat ass ZJ on it, My fat ass Mercedes on occasion, and other random crap. I figure my ZJ and the trailer are probably 6500-7000. I do not use an equalizer with the dodge.
It tows like a dream. No sway, tolerant of stange trailer loading, and feels much more solid thanks to it's weight and length. Power wise it's dream. It gets 20 mpg for my dad with close to 1000 pounds of tolls and random handyman crap for his business in the bed, gets 18mpg pulling my jeep to moab. Those are OD and calculator numbers.
I love driving the dodge, and towing with it. I love the economy when towing. The only things I don't like are the higher cost of fuel (DUH), it's a huge ass boat to park, (I know someone with a CC longbed will tell me to shut up), it's harder to get the kids in the back than it would be if it had doors, and the back seat is less than comfy for grownups.
Prior to this truck, my dad had a chevy 1/2 ton longbed with a TBI350 and a manual. We did a full exhaust, intake and ignition, and it got 14 mpg all the time hauling around his tools. He also sagged the rear springs so severely we replaced them before selling it. He NEEDS a 3/4 ton for what he does. Given his fuel economy with his gas truck, he is still saving money on fuel with the cummins economy. We bought the truck from a friend, knowing the history and how it had been cared for, and it has proven to be a great truck. It makes vegas without stopping for fuel, rides nice, and has more than enough power to get the job done.
For my purposes I wish it had more cab space and was easier to get my boys in the back. I'd absolutely love to drop it at Ben Hanks or Kindig-it one of these days and pick it up in "Ramburban" form, but that will require my dad to retire from his retirement job, and me to have a whole bunch of money. Time will tell what happens to it long term, but I really don't think I'll go back to gas towing, especially not SWB gas towing.
