Clutch rod won't go in all the way...

I have a 1978 KZ750B barn find That I've been working on the last 7 months. This is my first Kawasaki project so I've made a few mistakes along the way. Anyway, while cleaning out the front sprocket area I decided to pull out the clutch rod... Big mistake, it won't go all the way back in now. The clutch lever is hard as a rock and you can see through the oil fill hole that the clutch basket isn't budging. Looking into the hole I can see the bearing is still in but the rod just won't seat itself now. I can also tell because I can see clean rod then dirty area still sticking out. Any advise would be great.