I checked this carefully, Herman.
After pressing in the bearings, the long center spacer remains snug inside allowing for proper axle insertion. So all is well there.
I also checked the machined bearing seats for issues and found none. The bearings were properly seated. All appears well.
Perhaps I have an addition of tolerance errors with respect to the spacer lengths???
I sure found it curious that with the former bearings tightening up to 30 ft/lbs axle torque resulted in no bearing noise, while above (up to the required 81ft/lbs) the former bearings produced the clunking noise.
No issues with the new bearings so far (only 3200 miles).