Is this normal? There is a large gouge in the bottom of the tube that the throwout bearing slides on. The way the fork is mounted it pulls the fork up. And there's enough slop for it to hit the tube. Any way to correct this or is it not worth worrying about??

Hell yes, it is worth worrying about, gouging the bearing retainer is gonna cause some real problems down the road. Something isn't lined up right, the fork should be held onto the TO bearing with 2 clips, it must have come off.:mad:

The throwout didn't come off there's just plenty of up-down play between it and the fork. The clips only hold it on from the side, they don't prevent up-down play.