I have a '98 Cherokee with 181k miles. I bought it last summer to use as a winter beater, but last fall, the #6 piston broke (found a couple pieces of the skirt in the oil pan). It sat all winter, as my garage is unheated. Now I need to decide what to do with it. My options seem to be: 1. pull the head and replace the piston, 2. do a full rebuild, or 3. find a good used engine.

I was originally going to rebuild, but honestly, I'm starting to lean toward option 1. I'm not normally one to take the cheap-n-dirty way out, but I'm considering it here because: the Jeep is in decent shape, but certainly not perfect; only using it in the winter, I won't put on a lot of miles; I don't own an engine hoist, though could probably borrow one; and of course, less $!

I've rebuilt engines before, but never just replaced a piston in the vehicle like this. Any thoughts are appreciated!