Thanks for all the replies. FWIW I have tried to locate a used replacement via all the usual suspects-ebay, craigslist, etc. The only one I found that will work so far is not an exact match and somewhat rough-not to mention that good of a deal. I don't want to sit around waiting too long for a used one to come along as this is a new-to-me MTB that I am itching to get out on. Plus, I am wasting prime time desert riding weather.

I am not concerned about this repair compromising the integrity of the arm. There is plenty of cross sectional mass and the new threaded bore size only increases the diameter by .062". I perform failure investigations on metallic parts routinely (I work in a metallurgical laboratory), so I know a suspect design issue when I see one.

As an experiment, I may try to create a "fractional ownership" on the repair kit. Buy it for $125.00 (which includes six sets of threaded insert bushings). Use it to make my repair and then list it on ebay for $20.00 - $25.00 less than new (but now including only 5 sets of bushings). Let the next guy do the same thing at a further reduced cost, and so on. I would jump on this personally if somebody did same thing. Do you think this would sell?

Thanks again,

'bob