So I'm having the bikes torn down for the winter and one of the shops called asking if I wanted to keep the reinforced rear hub that Dave made.  It's a reinforced bushing that removes the play on the rear pulley from the rubber dampers.

 The shop indicates that the rubber dampers are by design due to how the bike shifts.  Basically a completely solid rear hub causes more wear during the shifting process from what I gather.

 What do you guys think?  I'd test it out but I think it would take two long and I have other tests going on with the bikes that haven't been completed.

Dave knows what they do and why they are supposed to be there. I'd be shocked if he made a solid hub.
Mine is fully functional and uses the dampers.

 Ok that makes more sense.

 As for greasing the bushing I don't recall anything being said about that, and couldn't find it in the saved correspondence so there's a good chance that was never done.

 When the new one is installed next year I will make a note to have it greased.

Suzuki has cut a lot of corners when they built the Savage.....so I would suspect that they also would have eliminated the cushion hub if they felt it wasn't needed.

The bushing I made allows the cushion hub to still rotate in the way it was designed - all the bushing does is take some of the eccentric load off the pulley hub bearing, and eliminate the "wobble" that develops as the bearing wears).