I'm almost a bit embarrassed to ask this one, being as I've owned old VW wabbits, worked on my own motorcycles, etc.

Been cleaning the Trek 420 here and there. No crank puller yet, but hey let's see if I can't get some of that gunk and oxidation off the freewheel. I removed the wheel, then the skewer, then unscrew the cones off the axle, and removed the ball bearings. The sprayed the freewheel (it's a 13-28 7sp Shimano btw) with WD-40, and brushed the gunk/rust off with a steel bristled brush. It cleaned up beautifully, and the teeth appear to be in good shape. Likewise I sprayed the bearing races and wiped everything out, and soaked the bearings in WD-40. Everything looks fine. There's only one little problem.

I don't have any grease.

APPARENTLY the only damn way to get the bearings to stick in the races long enough to put the axle through is to use grease!

Is that all there is to it or am I actually missing something here?

Guess it was a good thing I did't try to undo the crankset yet, eh?

And the silly part is that the freewheel and rear derailleur worked just fine (aside from being very dirty, as is the entire drivetrain - apparently the previous owner just kept adding more grease) - it's the FD and crankset that needs work.

Okay, you can cyberslap me now

Tom