'84 240, M46 gearbox. About 170K on the clutch.

The clutch does not seem to disengage. With the clutch pedal pushed to the floor, transmission in 1st gear, the car will roll at about 5 mph if I take my foot off of the brake. Also, it is difficult to get into 1st and 2nd. 3rd and 4th are easier, but still require some force. Transmission shifts through the gears with no resistance when the engine is off.

At first I thought that the clutch was just worn out, as the cable cannot be adjusted. The adjustment is turned as far as it will go. But, the clutch still has enough bite that you can stall the car if you let it up too quickly in 1st. A worn clutch should slip. Under full throttle acceleration, there is no slippage.

Okay, so maybe the release bearing is fried. But a bad bearing should be noisy. This thing is silent.

I am hoping that I can get away with just replacing the cable. Could a stretched or binding cable cause these symptoms? What about a bent fork? How can I check?

Thanks!