Light rod knock in a Durango 5.9... is it terminal?

Dropping the pan in this thing would be quite a task, if it was an older vehicle I might give it a shot but this Durango is super tight with the front diff right up against the oil pan. I searched other forums and people were saying the engine needs to be pulled to get the oil pan off... i'm honestly trying to not get pulled into this thing too much because it's a bit of a basket case, just found out the transmission might be messed up too it seems to skip 2nd gear and shift directly 1-3. I guess it depends on how much the owner is willing to spend.