Yeah I went into this eyes open, as opposed to some of my jeep purchases in the past.
Every ~day~ hour my plan changes.
Here's my plan, and I'll post updates as it goes...
Get Jeep into Quonset (need like 2 weeks to finish some projects I have going for firewood processing/collection)
Drop the oil pan, and inspect the crank/bearings. Once I know what the crank looks like I'll make the call on Full LS/4L60E Swap or keep digging into the rebuild option.
As for the the smoking on the trail, the valve stem seals are terrible on these 4.7 v8 motors. Unfortunately as it stands there's no good engine for these available. I could buy a working Grand Cherokee though but they're ~6k and if I'm spending that I might as well do a full LS swap, or 4.7 Reman with a 3yr warranty.