[Rick]

John,

Are talking about the internal wheel spacer in the hub?

Might not be a bad idea to just punch out the bearings and have a look as to what is going on. I just had mine apart last week. My rear wheel internal spacer has two "o rings" around it to help keep it centered in the hub so that when you insert the axle the spacer can't move and cause a binding issue.

I have also found that while pressing in the bearings I like to run my axle from the brake side through the bearing into the spacer and install in the sprocket side bearings with the axle in place. This method I have found keeps everything line up. The O rings really work nice in keeping the spacer centered within the hub.

It make things go super smooth if you heat the hub a little and use frozen bearings.

....good luck