Hello bike friends,

My gear thingy broke today. I took the wheel off to look at it closer, and all the rings popped out as well. I was able to collect them, and I got 1 spacer washer and the 1 screw ring. I wasn't able to get the bike to work again, so I just walked it home. The gears were sliding along the axle and not able to hold any force.

Anyways, I looked into it, and I've found out that I think this thing is called a shimano style freewheel. It has no bearing balls in it, which I think is causing the sliding along the axle. I don't remember dropping any balls, but there's none in there. The two ratcheting teeth that I read are called pawls were inside, one loose, and one in place, and I was able to reset those fine. Setting the gears on the wheel, it feels it's able to hold force in the forward direction and spin freely backwards, but it slides along the axle.

So, I think I need bearing balls. I've read from sheldon brown guy to not do this, but that the bearing balls are 1/8". I've also seen 3mm bearing balls. Does anyone know which are the correct bearing balls for a what I think is a shimano style freewheel? I don't know much about the design or where it's from or anything. For 2 layers of bearing balls, the difference would be 0.35mm. Appreciate!