if water and air can get in and rust and dry them out, light oil can get in too. have faith . just soak it in a bowl of oil, then let it drain, as recommended above.

story,

i disassembled my first freewheel in the back yard when about 10 years old. i desperately wanted to get that spoke protector off and thought i might have a chance if i disassembled it (i didn't know about freewheel removers then). all those (about 50?) bearings poured out onto the lawn.

i had just gotten the 5 speed Schwinn Collegiate and had removed the fenders against my father's advice, so was already halfway in the doghouse, and now i figured i had ruined the freewheel. my dad, who would be one very unhappy camper when he saw what i had done, was due to be home in about an hour. so i got some grease, rounded up as many bearings as i could find in the grass, figured out, through trial and error, that the grease would hold the bearings on the race and if i was careful, very careful, i could slowly rotate the cluster and bearings and pawls would engage the teeth and the whole thing would slip in. which it did, after about 20 attemps. i made it with about five minutes to spare. i still don't know how many ball bearings i lost, but years later, when doing some maintenance i removed the freewheel the proper way and that spoke protector just fell off. imagine that!

thanks for letting me reminisce...