Ball bearing to replace bushing in roller brush

I know I'm doing this the hard way and everyone else would just buy a replacement roller brush for $20 but I decided to rebuild one of the end caps of my Aerus vacuum roller brush (about 20 years old). The plastic spindle broke in half so I cut a piece of UHMW-PW rod and attached it in a hacky way. It broke after a couple of minutes of use, right where it enters the bushing in the brush. Instead of trying to more closely duplicate the original parts (not sure what I'd need to improve anyway...maybe the spindle should be nylon?) I'm thinking of getting a ball bearing to replace the bushing that came with the brush. What do you think? Do any roller brushes use ball bearings instead of bushings? It would be an improvement, right?

 

It's not just finding a ball bearing brush.
It's finding the right diameter bearings..... the right diameter and length of the brush.

Should be an exciting search.

 

I just did some research. The thing that I thought was a bushing and not a ball bearing WAS a ball bearing. I'm going to get the black caps off (I thought they were solid plastic) and clean them.