Great job with the presentation. I think your weld will work fine. My shifter in SM420 broke clean about 6" off the floor and I welded it back together with an alignment adjustment so it wouldn't hit the dash anymore. I did it just like you did the ball repair. It has worked fine for five years and still going strong.
Just curious, why not weld the connection too and forget the bolt together idea? Then it would look like it should.
