You don't pull the pin. There is a little collar there around the ball that you can push down and turn about a quarter turn. This releases the handle and it pops right out.
The other way to do it if you can't get that collar to turn is to just remove the shift housing from the top of the transmission. Just put it in neutral and remove all the bolts, it pops right off. Then you can inspect the gears. You just have to make sure the shift forks fit into the collars when you put it back on.
