[MrForbes]

I like the idea of bronze bushings. While they do have more friction than ball bearings, the friction is still not very much. And the added benefit of increased bearing surface on the wood is a plus.

We have also thought about making this live axle design with plywood, which is softer than oak. One problem with any non-laminated wood is that the tensile strength across the grain is rather low, so the wood can split, which would be catastrophic. Plywood doesn't have this problem as the grain goes in different directions.