The game was designed from the beginning to be a more manic game with not much time to do everything else. The gears were thrown in to add variety, but without enough time, I couldn't make the gears easier to understand or more enjoyable to fix. You're comment has opened my mind to the thought that it doesn't matter what the intention is if I don't communicate it well enough.
Thank you so much for the comment! I would love to go back and think critically about how I can alleviate the issue, whether that's taking the time to make it more fun, or if need be, just to take it out entirely.