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It provides articulation whereas a rod in a tube will bind, wear then cause slop. Unless you machine it and install bushings or bearings by which time you’ve spent whole lot more than a hub.
You could probably get away with rolling your own if you were going to sell hundreds of thousands of these things, but that’s not going to happen, so picking a ready assembled easily available component makes sense.
Happy now? Good.
Might provide a bit of articulation?