Drake PTO Question?

Ready for Install with braid added

'Fork' Resoldered and Braid attached

PTO with cover off

Tuning rod end

Got the PTO rod out today Yea!  Yes, the PTO is out of the rig.  I ran the fork to the end of the screw then undid the tension adj hex screw.  Of course then the balls started to drop out and I removed the plastic gear and it's rod by removing the 'clip washer' (not sure what it's real name is).

Next was to reattach the rod to the 'fork'.  I decided to 1st try the 'heat gun' approach with a 1400 watt industrial type heat gun rated at 800-1000F.  I was going to do it outside but decided to use my aluminum darkroom tray that I use under the Cantenna as a 'heat shield'.  I placed the rod assembly in a 8" crescent wrench and let the rod stand vertically with the fork sitting on top.  This worked OK but the 'fork' was not quite level and needed to be heated a 2nd time to get it closer to the proper 90 degree angle.  While I had the heat gun I decided to solder a piece of solder wick braid to the end of the fork.  I could not get the solder to flow on the fork by itself so I used my regular small Hakko iron AND the heat gun and got the end of the fork tinned with a small blob of solder, then the braid was put on top and held with the solder iron and gave it another blast with the heat gun.  

Later I am going to clean off the rest of the old grease and try to reassemble the same way.  The dial shaft bits are all still intact and I may want to disassemble it as well,

Today's question is: will I be able to get the balls back in without taking the dial shaft apart (same as it came apart for me) or is there a 'Better' way to get the bearing back together.  Should I use a drop of new grease or just leave some of the old grease and add a drop of 3in1 oil to it?  

As far as the re-soldering goes I wonder if the heat changes the iron parts enough to worry about. Will find out I guess....