My first 3 cars were 5 speed Fords, and every single damn one of them had problems with the idler gears. I couldn’t even get the Mustang into 2nd gear by the time I sold it. Straight from 1st to 3rd!
I had nissan 350z that had the same problem starting to occur, so I sold tnat too. I’m glad to have an automatic, and slap shift autos are really quick, you don’t really need a manual transmission anymore.
Before you accuse me of tearing up transmissions, I bought all my cars quite used. I consider myself proficient at the skill. I never could afford transmission repairs.
Manual transmissions tend to be much simpler than automatics. Teardown and repair is much more intuitive.