I agree with Jon and have done that (Gas weld)
Also you can make a piece of metal and tack it on the element side that is larger than the crack diameter, of course drilling the 3 mounting holes and throat hole.
In other words a reinforcing plate, remember you don't want to weld it solid, Tack an inch, leave an inch and so on.
And the outside diameter of the reinforcing plate can be any shape, square,triangle, whatever.
14 or 16 Gauge would be enough.
No beer/soup cans.
