Sledge roll... Sledge hole

I'm helping my cousin work on his 648 baler. His son tried to burn it recently but fortunately he had an extinguisher handy. Unfortunately, he had it handy because he just bought it after they had a tractor burn. Anyway, bad year for him. Once we got the middle roll out where the bad bearing was, we encountered this distorted hole in the sledge frame. The frame was actually replaced right before he bought it so it's otherwise in perfect condition. I don't care for the idea of putting this thing back together like it is. I see two options. Tear it all apart and have the hole in the frame repaired or put it back together with the current Melmac-shaped hole (did anybody watch ALF?) and then tack weld the end cap tight to alleviate some likelihood that the cap will immediately return to distorting the hole. Votes, thoughts, other ideas?

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Sledge roll... Sledge hole