Yeah, I posted videos in my last post.
There's nothing between the two spindles, so I guess the unit uses a gear.
I only have the one, but I only use it for the few tapes I don't have on DVD. I'll probably digitize them as soon as I get this VCR working again.
Here's a video of the unit being disassembled from someone else. You can see the lack of an idler wheel at 4:29.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eATL5x1hZQA