KE125 clutch help

[karthead]

Hi everyone,
Just recently bought an old, not working KE125 to fix up.
On the gearbox side of the motor, a pushrod goes through the motor and to the other side to the clutch so that it pushes the end plate to engage the clutch. There was a steal ball (7/32 in diameter) missing so i just bought the same size steal ball from ebay (i dont think it should matter if the ball wasnt made for the engine) so thats all good. One thing i am unsure of is that the pushrod is so hard to push to engage the clutch. Are the screws that hold in the end clutch plate supposed to be done up snug? Or are they meant to be loose to allow for a bit easier movement?
Thanks for all of your help