oddly enough, the crappiest item I have is a DeWalt circular saw- Binds up mid-cut if you so much as look at it the wrong way...
conversely tho, my mate has all Parkside stuff. One of the best items he has is a cute looking wee 3.5" circular saw. Amazing thing, absolutely steams it's way through anything even at max depth of cut.
Can you pop another pump is series to help the flow in that loop? The internal pump on our IVT9 is a bit marginal so I've an external Wilo to support it. Either will *just* satisfy the flow switch so with the externl pump ticking over it allows the Carel to modulate the internal pump nicely
our pro digger guy was unfazed by the play in my TB125. I replaced the bucket pins and the banana links and pins which helped a lot and it still clanks around a bit but it's really not the end of the world
on fitting new bushes- presuming they are press in ( the dipper end on mine is torch off/ weld on) then yes it's likely to be a bit more force than (say) a suspension bush in a car. Heat and liquid nitrogen might both be needed...
then there's always the possibility of them being reamed or linebored afterwards
if you can't get the old'uns out, how do you think you'll manage to get the new parts in...
which bushes is it, and do you have new/ good pins too? Pins alone might help
and anyway, a wee bit of play is a good learning experience I reckon
Oddly enough my experience with safety valves- autoclave sterilisers as well as other pressure vessels and boilers- is that the insurance engineer absolutely *must* see them lifted at every statutory inspection and will often remove and pump test them as well to verify the opening pressure. It's not unusual to find a valve stuck badly enough that more than the chamber's safe test pressure is required to break it free which is more than a small worry. Yes occasionally one will weep after this, but replacement is the cost of doing business...
I routinely lift the valve of any unit I'm working on to confirm it's *not* stuck...