Inter Minan

Hello im new to the forum and looking for a bit of help.I have had my rascal for a good few years and have always used a shop for repairs or service.Im looking at learning to try and do the repairs myself starting with this problem what started yesterday.The car had been running fine for about 30 mins then all of a sudden there sounded like a bell noise from the car and it stalled.So i started to play about with the clutch bell pinion,Turning it and pushing it back toward the engine what sort of fixed it for about 5 mins,Then it happened again thats when i called it a day incase it caused more damage.Once i got home i could see metal balls at the end of the clutch bell pinion where the screw gos in, There is a bit of play and you can see them when it slides back,could it be a bad bearing.Is this my problem?Do i need to take the engine out to fix it?As i say im new to this and the terminology of parts.