Removed the front sporcket cover and lost the clutch!! Please help!?

[Nate]

so I was trying to replace the front sprocket on my 03' GSX-R

I was putting the final touches on her last night to go have a bolt drilled off today and when she's on the stand and running in gear with the clutch lever all the way in the back tire spins! I was so pissed!

anyhow, there's no damage to the push pin, but if I put it in it's hole, I could not push the plate with just my hands, and I didn't want to hit it with a hammer or something like that to see if it was just stuck.

there's definatley a difference between having the clutch in and having it out, it's more like I can't pull it in far enough! I didn't mess with anything in there, and I played around with the linkage forever last night trying to find a sweet spot.

what the hell is going on? What should I do?

p.s. it may have been that way before I worked on it, I don't know, but I'm guessing it's not ok to leave it like that!