don't feel bad. same thing happened to me. then I was hard on myself for not using loctite to keep that screw on.
and I'd be willing to bet that the gear will never come off even if you leave the screw off. it needs the puller to get it off.
Thanks for the support jag, I didnt feel it would come off either. Although, now that it has, I cannot screw the nut back in to the small bevel, just spins.. and this is without the spacer too! wont catch the thread. Im slightly concerned that the small bevel has came off a tad bit enough to not let me screw this back into it, if so, what will get the bevel back down? ive tried smashing it with a hammer to no avail. You can see in the pics it looks like the smaller gear protrudes more than the larger one.
yeah I think all these engines have that offset with the gears. drunken engineers in China.
just run it as is. with less than 2 horsepower there's not much stress on any part.