I've never been inside of a transmission, and haven't really come across horseshoe washers, so I tried finding an example of someone using them on YouTube, but came up empty.
YouTube decided that I must have been looking for drum brake spring pliers, so it suggested an excellent, short, video of an older gentleman showing how to use them properly.
Maybe it's a German car thing, but right off the top of my head, same German car I've been working on since the mid 80's. I removed the transmission around 1988 to change the fifth gear. That was one (eyelet-less) circlip. And to remove the inner CV joints to clean/reassemble/regrease, that's another. And when the axle flange seal on the transaxle needs changing, that involves another one.
So, like many Sears Craftsman purchases I made in the late 80's, no ra-gerts!* Also, for anything that needs pushing apart, that is small and fiddly.
The Corvette transmission I was watching the couple rebuild, the lock ring/circlip was exactly like the kind I have been dealing with since the 80's.
BTW, Wilde makes these in America and I'm guessing that Proto above is a Wilde. I looked up the letter code on my old Craftsmans and yep, also Wilde.
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* The Underground Lair of the Squankum would like to express its deep regret on having bought so many great Craftsman tools on a Sears credit card in that era. But the tools were invaluable.
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