Originally Posted by vt1565

A quick update -- so I visited a local bicycle shop that specializes in e-bikes and purchased an upgraded freewheel, based on the suggestion of several replies here. This made sense to me since the first one was already shot, I didn't want to get a warranty freewheel and have this happen again. The new one is an 11-28 vs the 14-28 tooth (supposed to help with the 'ghost pedaling') and is a little heavier duty. It felt like a much higher quality part, and there was zero play between the cassette/cogs and the inner body (shaft?) that threads onto the hub.

I removed the old freewheel and the threads looked fine, so I'm thinking the bearings were indeed ground down or the freewheel was just cheap and of poor quality. I cleaned up and greased the threads (per a number of youtube videos I watched), then threaded on the new freewheel. It feels much better already, shifted better, and had less noise before any adjustments other than some minor adjustments to the barrel adjuster.

I'm working on setting the H limit screw, indexing, and L limit screws -- should have that done tomorrow. I ran out of daylight, but it's already much better. I think I just need to fine tune it and see how the shifting feels.

Thank you again, everyone! I appreciate the help. I'll let you know how it turned out once everything is adjusted properly and tested further.