Yes, it would drive flush by hand, but the designed(still new) spring forces weren't enough to overcome the bur that was something like a double cut thread I guess. It drove me nuts, taking apart, removing grease, finding nothing broken, functioning out of the shell, put back together and not working. I knew the problem was that high speed clutch was not engaging the hub shell, swapped retarder spring, no help. It's usually index or retarder spring on the used hubs, or something painfully obvious. I think I tried to take dimensions with each clutch installed separately in the hub and couldn't achieve any consistent measurement. With no way of measuring the matched taper in the hub, I took a break from it. Came back a week later and tried an original index spring, no help. Cleaned the clutch again and sat it next to an original Bendix part, found differences in appearance but not in outside dimensions. Finally clicked to just try swapping the clutch and it worked. No need for measuring. After that I took it back apart to study and plot it's demise...lol....felt the sharpness in the thread.
If yours acts up again, I'd replace the retarder spring. Maybe it's just on it's last leg and doesn't like the grease stealing what little friction it has left to supply. Take pictures of the grooves inside the clutch that grab the index spring this time.