Canyon Spectral AL (2015) rocker pivot issue (bearings?)

Skonk

Howdy.

Hoping someone could give me some advice.

I have a 2015 Canyon Spectral AL 8.0 EX, It had a fair bit of use for a year and a half and then due to health issues I've been off the bike for some time and I'm now getting back into it.

I always felt like the back end didn't quite respond to bumps as I would have expected but didn't really investigate it; but since the bike had been sat doing nothing for so long and I've started using it again I decided to give it a once over and a check the pivot bearings and so on.

All the pivot bearings feel relatively smooth when I spin them by hand, and once re-assembled and torqued up they all move fine apart from the main rocker pivot. When the main rocker pivot is torqued to the 17nm (or anywhere from 12nm upwards) it binds quite badly, to the point where it's enough to hold the rear end up (with the shock detached of course).

The pivot is made up of 2 cartridge bearings and a metal cylinder that sits between the 2 inner races and I assume its job is to stop the pivot bolt from putting lateral load onto the inner races; and it's currently not working as intended.

Has anyone with a Spectral had similar issues? would simply replacing the bearings sort it or could the bushing it's self be a fraction too short?

I don't really want to replace the bearings only to find it still happens and then have to destroy the new bearings getting them out again.

Thanks.

james.