Restrict ball assembly, what does it do?

[BlackbirdOfPrey]

I need to know what the restrict ball assembly on a manual transmission does, It is a large bolt with a ball bearing on the end of it sealed by a gasket on the top of the transmission case. This is very important that I know what this does.

 

[timloomis]

well theres 3 on the side that lock in the shift rails,and the only one i know of on top is the reverse sensor.it has a ball in it with some wires coming out the top.

 

[BlackbirdOfPrey]

The one I'm talking about is in plain view if you look at the transmission from the passenger side and look towards the block, it is towards the front side, but still on the top of the transmission. it didn't have any wires comming out of it. The reason I need to know is that I removed this on accident and want to make sure that I didn't screw up my transmission.