This makes no damn sense.

look at back side of old wheel and see if it was rubbing where it meets the column!
No visible wear marks on the old wheel. Pulling on the shaft must have changed things enough somewhere down the line to make it feel different, but I suspect the change is temporary anyway. Whatever was causing the binding I'm sure will be resolved when I install the new setup. I just won't have the satisfaction of feeling a major difference after $1400 and what I'm sure will be some knuckle busting lol.