First Mountain Towing with 6.0 gas GMC

The Texan wrote:
According to the dealers around here, the 6.0L is being replaced by the 6.2L starting with the coming model year and will be phased out over a couple of years.

In light duty trucks like the 1500's being built "in the coming model year" yes, that all aluminum 6.2L will take over that market.

But don't bury the cast iron block 6.0L yet. GM's truck engines don't just go into pickups. There's still all those other commercial duty applications... the RV Cutaway, the school bus cutaway, the UPS/FedEx/DHL step van business by the likes of Utilimaster, MorganOlsen, and HiVCO based on the Workhorse Chassis W62 bare chassis. Workhorse gasoline engines are exclusively GM Vortec cast iron block Vortec V8s... the 4.8L and that ever present 6.0L.

And then there is the Izuzu NPR (that also masqueraded in past years as the GM W-Series) that continues to offer the cast iron block 6.0L.

And don't forget the marine market... the list goes on.

Yes, the 6.2L all aluminum block puts out great numbers with a sophisticated combustion system and an efficient power to weight ratio... but all that costs money. When competing in a market of popularized power/economy ratios in the consumer market with catchy names like Ecoboost, it makes sense to sharpen the edge with "EcoTec".

The increased cost per unit is immaterial when having to comply with Federally mandated CAFE standards.

But in commercial applications over certain GVWRs, the rules are as different as the market served. Cost per unit is key, not HP or high speed. The 3500HD chassis cab has a 6.0L, for example.

All motors get phased out eventually. But there are so many odd and various and interesting applications that rely on the 6.0L cast iron small block, from the original poster's L96 with the factory installed torque "RV" camshaft, down to the lowly LQ4 I'm puttering around with, and all the RPO's inbetween, that this engine and the parts availability for it will not be disappearing anytime soon (IMHO).