Strange stiction on GF gimbal, busted bearings?

[pretagonist]

Hello, I have a GF (mk2) base that I haven't used in a while. I just received my new space cams and as I was switching cams i came upon a strange error.

When moving the gimbal, without cams, springs or nylon dampeners it sticks in the middle of travel. There's a lot of stick on the Y-axis a very small one one the X-axis.

I have included a video below where I try to give the gimbal a constant force with a rubber band (sorry for potato quality, it's my phone and a janky mounting-solution).

You can clearly see that the gimbal stops/sticks in the middle.
I haven't been abusing this gimbal in any way, no extensions or heavy sticks and I'm not someone that's heavy handed. The gimbal hasn't been lubed in any way and it hasn't been in any excessively dusty or extreme temperature environments.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fmae6l1a0kjgh ... 3.MOV?dl=0

[AeroGator]

What I am going to say might sound a bit odd but just take it from me, your base must be OK.
And there is absolutely nothing you might have done, as you feared, about overloading the base, or applying extra force to it, or anything.
Let me try to explain
The bearings are press-fitted in their seat.
Normal working load that is routinely applied to these bearings is so high that we have to press-fit them with extra strength, otherwise they would pop out right away.
Side effect of this extra tight fitting is sometimes a slightly labored feeling when you try to roll the unloaded bearing.
My advise is, ignore it. Assemble the base with all springs, cams, etc., and try again. It should work as before, if not better.
As you have it disassembled now, it is convenient to drop a tiny droplet of oil into the bearing, but it will not change much.
So, try doing as I said, and update me!