Spent the morning removing stuff to just get to the shift linkage thing and removing it. Totally confirmed the break is exactly where predicted to be. Took it to a local welder to be done, who took one look at it and shook his head. It looks like it was designed to break there. A simple fix that I will pick up in the mornng and put back in its place.
On another note, the job was turned down by some one capable but unwilling to do it due to liability issues!
