Clutch needle bearings "okay"

Got some garage time this morning and checked the needle bearings in my clutch. Yesterday, I bought a 1" pipe to hacksaw and Dremel into a tool to open the reverse thread nut to expose the needle bearings. After a few minutes with the saw and seeing that I had only scratched the surface I thought of a creative way to loosen the nut without a punch.
And the best part is the needle nose pliers worked. My only concern is I wonder if the nut should have been on tight enough so that I could not loosen it this way? Could this of caused the "grabbing" I experienced?
All forty needle bearings were there and appear to be in great condition. I need to oil them back up as I wiped them down with a micro fiber cloth to avoid any dust particles getting on them.
There is a small amount of space between the needle bearings, but it's fairly tight overall as you can see.

I need to continue down the trouble shooting list I compiled.

Happy Thanksgiving!