I have broken down the trans on my 28. there seems to be a steel wrap on the counter shaft between the 31 tooth and 25 tooth gears. does anyone what it is for? Also it is bent up, it appears to give access to the oil hole for the bushings and shaft. I have looked for anything similar but can't seem to find any counter shaft gears that have this configuration. My thought is maybe it is there to splash lube up and around? Next question is it necessary for the function of the transmission?

It's a "spacer", part #328670,
and it looks like it's supposed to be shaped that way, so it looks like you are good to go. :-)

And...

yes it should be there... to catch and feed oil into the counter shaft bushings inside it when it rotates.

Awesome! Thank you!

A little more cleaning and new bushings then back together she goes! This was a spare I picked up along with the engine. My current one is going to be next, she is clunking pretty hard but only in first gear.