90 cr125 clutch wont engage

my clutch wont engage. i can run through all the gear by running it at high rpms in neutral then dumping the clutch but it just drags or turns over in first with the clutch pulled in. the plates and disks are not stuck to one another but i am skeptical about the actuator arm (clutch lever) with the spring and cable off its loose as dick, should it be loose? i mean it feels like its literally touching nothing, just sitting in the hole flopping around. again i have the spring and cable off when it feel like this but i still feel like i should feel some resistance at some point of moving it up and down letting me know it is actually doing something and not just sitting in a hole. someone please try to make sense of this.