Yet another blower motor question...

I pulled the blower motor (thank you to all that have contributed to that subject) to oil the bearings because the intermittent squeak was becoming irritating and I feared that it may seize at some point. I oiled the bearings, the motor spins quietly now, works at variable speed, and seems to move the air well enough.

When I had the unit out I tried to spin the fans by hand. Even after oiling the bearings and while it turned smoothly and quietly there appeared to be a lot of resistance to turning. In fact, it would not freewheel at all after trying to spin by hand. It seems to work well enough but I didn't have anything to compare to.

Therefore, my question: Is the blower motor supposed to spin freely (as in x number of spins following a hand spin) or is there some resistance to the setup? I don't really want to spend the $100 to get another motor if this a normal characteristic.

Thanks,
Paul