well I disassembled the hub last night.. and searched around in the middle for the errant ball.. but it was no where to be found.. I greased up the axlerod.. slid it in... twisted it around... and no mark.. so that leads me to believe that the race was short a ball... so I repacked it once more... this time with the extra ball the LBS gave me... adjusted.. rode up and down my hill... voila !! smooth as butter... so now I have 2 newly repacked hubs, along with a repacked bottom bracket... all is good !
thanks for all the advice.. Rev. Chuck is da man !
Jeff