Well, I did some digging and found out a few things.
1. What I initially called the "retainer gear" is actually the reverse idler gear. This came as a surprise to me because I've never seen a reverse gear that didn't have straight cut teeth. This gear also stays meshed with the input shaft at all times (as was noted in the original post for the added stability it provides) and is completely seperated from the striker area which is another weird thing. It does not move at all on its shaft (retainer pin) either.
2. The strange gear on the end of the main shaft that does not stay meshed with anything on the input shaft is actually the main reverse gear. It also
does not have straight cut teeth......weird.
I'm still a little confused about exactly how this transmission engages reverse, but I'm not going to lose sleep over it. Anyhow, I've edited the original post with the "proper" terminology for this gear.
SR20DEe, I wanted to get out there and take measurements of the gears for you this weekend but I'm having difficulty with removing the shifter rods (I can't measure with them in the way). They have a unique lock ring in various places and I've tried about 5 different types of snap/lock ring pliers to remove them but haven't gotten my hands on a pair that will successfully remove these little bastards. I did see on Matco's website that they have exactly the type that I need......but I'm hesitant to pay $25.00 for a pair of pliers that I'm going to use once. Anyhow, I'll continue to search and that will be my last resort. When I do get the lock rings out, I'll take the measurements and post back here.
