The wrong throw out bearing in a kit would wave a large red flag at me. You may have the wrong clutch altogether. Whoever put the kit together likely knew which bearing went with which clutch but of course that is not guaranteed.
Hopefully you still have the old clutch to compare closely to be sure it is identical in every way. The fingers should be the same height from the flywheel surface to end of the fingers where the throw out bearing contacts them if the same bearing is used with both.
The 3 lever style with coil springs uses different throw out compared to the single diaphragm spring type. There are 3 different throw out lengths to my knowledge and they need to match the clutch that gets installed.
You don't mention which bearing was longer but if the old bearing that you installed is longer than the new one that came with the kit, it could bind at the back of the transmission bearing retainer and never let the clutch engage all the way, no mater how the pedal is adjusted. It could behave as if you had your foot pushing on the pedal all the time.
This right here is what I was afraid of. Original bearing was longer, new one was shorter by a full 1/3. Original clutch was three finder coil spring and I am pretty sure new was single diaphragm. I was naïve to much of this and didn't realize the difference in clutchs until after the fact. Ill accept the consequences of my oversight there. Original clutch and pressure plate are in the other barn and ill inspect side by side. The new clutch kit was the LUK HD L04902 which cross referencing numbers matched up for this truck/engine/trans.
If the throw out is the fault and never let the clutch fully seat, it could explain some of the whine and gradual (yet rapid) fade out to full slip without actually "burning" the clutch up with smoke and smell. Since its down ill inspect everything though. What is the determining factor on if a clutch fork is too worn out?
