Lorn,

When I flipped my plane upside own to work on it I found several kink/rub points that I cleaned up. One was the linkage connection to the strut. On my strut the weldment tab rubs along the sides of the linkage which gouged the side of the linkage. I carefully filed down both sides of the linkage just around the hole, tapering back to the standard thickness to remove any stress riser and fit one washer on both sides. This kept the weldment from rubbing and greatly lowered the rotating contact area. It rotates freely now. It seems like I have seen some with true rod end bearings as well.