At the stage of replacing seals and what not on a rebuild and noticed something weird.

I opened up my oil pump to measure the gears and clearances and everything was in spec and within service limit.

When I put the new front main seal on the pump and closed the pump cover, the gears did not turn by hand and are just binding.

When I removed the seal the gears spun fine and easy.

What could be the problem here?

On a H22 oil pump