Front beam rebuild question

Just got back from a business trip and got back to rebuilding my front beam on my 72 standard. Stripped the old beam down and am getting ready to paint the new beam. Before I re-assemble the thing, I have a couple of questions:

The guy that sold me the new (well, to me "new" - it is used) beam gave me some bushings and was wondering if these things are indeed the weapon of choice to use or not. This is what they look like:

forgot to flip the image). The longer and shorter ones seem to only fit in a on the bottom beam: The shorter one without the lip fits inside the top beam: The arms seem to fit ok within these bushings.

IF these things are good to use, which do I stick in the lower beam (the short or long ones)? The top one does not have a lip -- seems to me dirt can get in. Do I still need to put that boot in between the beam and arms? What sort of grease would you recommend using on the springs? The consistency used on my old one feels like the high temp stuff used on brake slide pins, etc, but what do you guys use?

Tia. Remco