When I got my 81, I thought the bushings were bad because the rear wheel swung sideways a lot. Scary to ride. I got the guy to knock back the price.
When I got it home and went to remove the pivot bolt, I found the threaded part had broke off and the po drilled and threaded the end of the pivot bolt for a 5/16 bolt. LOL
I tore out the swing arm, cleaned the old crud out, and every thing looked pretty good. The pivot tube was a snug slip fit in the bushings. Not much of any apparent wear. I put the swing arm back in with a spare pivot bolt. With the pivot bolt at around 45 ft/lbs. it would still wiggle a bit left to right. Pick up the swing arm and it fell down. I increased the torque a bit. Around 50ft/lbs. picked up the swing arm and it dropped slower. Added a bit more torque till it would hold it self up. I could move it easily. This was around 55 ft/lbs. this eliminated any side to side play.
With some grease it works just fine.
Because of this I now believe that before I replace anything on a swing arm I shall tear it down, clean and inspect. Then test as I did on the 81. The bushings may be ok, just a loose pivot bolt.
With the loose pivot bolt the pivot tube is not held in place by the clamping force of the bolt. This allows the swing arm to move left to right even with good bushings.
So I would recommend at least torqueing the pivot bolt before you decide the bushings are bad.
If even with some extra torque the swing arm still has excess side to side play, then replace the bushings.
Leo