You got lucky, one guy on another thread though he was taking out a drain plug but it was actually a pin that held a shift fork and as soon as he took it out it changed positions on him and couldn't replace it, he ended up splitting the entire tractor to line it back up.
Yikes, that would not be good. I will be very careful from now on touching things I know nothing about. I'm grateful that the bearing and or spring didn't go flying and get lost on me.