It definitely wasn't the bearings or how they were seated, because they individually would not slide onto the axle (none of them in the pack would). I don't typically use a bearing press to put them in my wheels, I just slide em on the axle and press the wheel down into them, which was what I was trying to do but they just wouldn't slide on in the first place. The shop dude seated em with the press so that he could commence the bangin' lol.
When i was messing with it, it felt like either the axle was slightly bent and that was preventing then from sliding all the way on, or like it wasn't machined down enough to allow it to slide on... either way, I'm glad it worked out too because the setup is the best I've ever had. Af1's skate really great when they're brand new, and the dane 1 lived up to the hype I've read about it here for sure