97 Yukon with spun rod bearing

[68lemans462]

My friend has a nice rust free 97 Tahoe that I found him couple years ago for $3,200. Truck now has 114k miles and is used to run from Denver up to the mountains for ski/fishing trips. Has been well maintained. Upon return from the mountains yesterday the truck has a rod knock. I'm thinking it was probably over-revved. It was full of oil (just changed it not long ago). It still has good oil pressure but certainly has a rod knock. I was pretty shocked considering the mileage...

Options are:
Sell truck for next to nothing
Rebuild existing engine
Find a crate/reman engine


What is the best option for replacement and a ballpark for cost? If we are going to put the $ into another motor I'd like to get something with more power. The stock 5.7 is a PIG. I see there are reman motors out there in the $2k range but those are not getting me too excited..

 

[PG01]

If the truck is fine otherwise ie; trans, a/c, interior, diffs, etc etc I would rebuild what ya got or find a junkyard drop in if money is a concern, if not, a new crate motor, theres gm performance, jasper, etc Etc. or there’s always the ls swap option.... not sure what you’re willing to spend