Originally Posted by
miket.
..... i took the wheel off and it was not spinning smoothly at all until i removed the freewheel, then the bearings rolled nice and smooth again........
Sounds like you need the protector or a spacer then. You can't argue with what you found. To test how much of a spacer you need screw the freewheel back on until you notice it causing trouble again. That'll also tell you if it's a depth thing or if the inner diameter of the freewheel isn't large enough to let the nuts on the axle rotate cleanly.