Swap it out and replace the bearings and seals. Cheapest way to go...assuming his ball joints are good.
As a side note, that sounds about right on the labor...my brother had to replace all 4 ball joints on his 2000 Silverado...$680 for just the labor. I was at the shop pulling the body lift out of the K5 while they were working on his truck. It didn't look like fun. There seemed to be a lot of
