I destroyed the gear ring when removing it, and even so there is a small chamfer on each tooth on the side that the starter gear slides into, so i dont think rotating would be wise. Also considering a new one is like 80 dollars?
In other news, the machine is back together and running again. It's still vibrating though, definitely not the same as before. Is it possible the engine and pump are too much out of alignment? The vibration is on the same frequency as the motor, it could also be the flywheel? I accidentally drilled a bit into the flywheel when removing the gear ring, so now there's a few grams of flywheel missing on one side.