rear muffler came off, can it just be welded back on? 87 300E

[dirtysocks]

the rear muffler on my car (87 300E, 171K miles) detached from the exhaust pipe yesterday. I took it off, and it seems to be in pretty good shape, other than a dent on the bottom from it hitting the road, and rust in and around the hole where it attached to the exhaust pipe.

I was just wondering what the general concensus was on just getting a piece of patch pipe and welding this muffler back in place. Will this hold up? Is this muffler actually still effective considering it is 171k miles old? I don't know how quiet the car should actually be, so I can't really judge. I am debating getting a new muffler, but they are pricey even from fastlane.

Any advice or guidance is greatly appreciated.