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It would be almost impossible to measure the spacing between the ring gear and pinion gear directly. So instead, the shop manual specifies it in terms of "backlash" -- the amount of "slop" when you rotate the ring gear back and forth. To measure the backlash, you lock down the pinion gear by inserting a screwdriver through the speedometer drive hole. Then you attach a dial indicator -- a precision measuring tool made for measuring small variations in distance. SAAB made a special fixture for holding the dial indicator in the correct position for measurement. Since I don't have the fixture, I rigged up something with a regular indicator stand, bolted to the transmission case.