Well I blew up the picture, and I don't think this will work. the crank gear and idler gear must have the same amount of gear teeth. Crank gear has 24 and the idler gear has 23, so it may start but will not run long afterwards. But the picture leaves little to desire, I could be wrong on the count, hope I am......
You are correct on the tooth count, but let me ask you this. This idler and crank gear were designed to run together in the set. Why is it different leaving the one gear out? This larger gear was going to mesh with the crank gear anyway.