Hey guys. I’m new to motorcycles and I got a 73 CT3 a little bit ago. I had an oil leak on the pushrod seal and ,while I was replacing it, the pushrod slid out towards the shifter side about 4 or 5 inches. Since putting it back together it seems my clutch is dragging with the lever all the way pulled.  I have adjusted the clutch again and it’s still dragging.  

I noticed in the clutch assembly schematic that there is a ball bearing on the other side of the pushrod. Could that have dropped somewhere if the pushrod slides out far enough?  Any other ideas on what’s going on?  It creeps forward idling now. I have new friction discs on the clutch side.  It seems like I’m not getting enough action to fully disengage the discs. 

it was perfectly disengaging before I took the shifter side apart. 

Sure sounds like the ball fell out. The free play on the side case adjustment is correct, or is it very loose?

I have it adjusted nice and tight with only a 1/16” play of slack in the lever per the book.  If the ball fell out, where would it go in the engine case?

the thing that makes me wonder is that when I put it back together, the clutch adjustment was still pretty good. I didn’t have to do much adjustment… you think of that ball went away I would have had to adjust it another 8mm in or so. 

Ball can't escape unless the pushrod was totally removed. If it was missing the adjustment would be way loose assuming it was ok before doing seal. Regardless of that possibility & even if missing if you adjusted the actuator to compensate it should work as normal even though it's not right & ball must be replaced. If it fell out it'll be under the bench (they do that) or possibly sitting below gear shaft just resting in the outer case. Does the lever pull feel normal like its lifting the clutch.

Greetings from Tennessee  

Did the new friction plates measure about 4 mm thick? From what you've said later, it looks like the ball may not have fallen out.