Sturmey 2 speed kick hub tightening itself?

So the other day I got a free wheel with an aerospoke I purchased.

The freebie has a 2 speed sturmey archer kickshift hub.

Visually it looks fine but the axle acts very strangely.

If you spin the wheel counter-clockwise it spins fine, smooth and no friction.

But if you spin clockwise, like normal riding would be, after a few rotations the axle gets really stiff and has a lot of friction on it.

My first thought was bearing preload was too high, but even after I loosened them too much intentionally it did the same.

does anyone have any suggestions about what might be happening here?

Maybe something inside winding up and binding against the axle?​