^ The last time I went through the 149/144 madness (year or so ago), I ended up with 144s and a few inside washers. A bit after that, I was just suddenly like, "This is utterly insane. A mm is not going to make any real difference*." And I went to standard 1 inside, 1 outside. Recently, I had been riding that 8.75/14.5 Label for a bit, with 159s. And I liked how stable it felt. So, i decided to try 149s on the 8.25 to see if that just might make things "feel better" (under no illusion it's really going to make me skate better/worse in any substantive, meaningful way). It oddly gave me a bit more mental confidence with pivot to fakies, because it felt like more of the truck already "inside" the transition (I do the just lock-the-heel-wheel type of pivot to fakies). The turn on 149s feels real nice, too. But I don't like the axle nut sticking out. Put on 144s back on after a bit, and board just felt a little less stable, with less of a good feeling turn, but also more nimble. Maybe I should just abandon "either/or" (hey Kierkegaard) concepts and just ride whatever the mood dictates, when it dictates, as to trying to find a singular answer.
*Yet, don't you dare ask me to ride a wheel that is just 1mm off from my preferred size! The irony!
Oh yeah, that is very familiar - used to ride 144s but now they feel too tippy on any board and the smallest I will go is 149s.
A couple of additions to the madness for you - just the one washer on the inside of 149s and no washer on the outside to see if the nuts sit in far enough. Try that for a bit, not looking at the remaining axle if you can help it, but if that works, then even grind off the end couple of threads of the axles to bring everything in a bit more, so they will end up sort of like 146 hangers, the way the old Stage 8 or so were, which fit a bit better. Just don't take too much off.
People have done it unintentionally and just smashed the ends of their axles in the past, so when I am reconditioning used parts, especially hangers, one washer is all that will fit and the truck actually works really well as an in between size.
Re pivot to fakie (and quite a few other tricks where the little extra truck width really helps) I do enjoy a touch more hanger and yes, that spot is the one, wheel just up over and not half a truck with it.
The only down side is some people say the truck is not nimble enough and the 149 sits too wide for some of their flat bar grind type tricks, but I enjoy letting other people with their own trucks have all the flat bar grinding attention and really only have board contact nowdays with flatbars anyway for my own happiness. Works better for me and less likely to end up broken off.
At least you always have some 144 hangers you can swap in if needed.