stiff accelerator pedal

[mixwhit]

I tend to drive my truck like I stole it. But today I gave the throttle pedal a little extra push and realized I haven't been pushing it all the way. There was more there. However, it takes a lot of force to push it that far. Is there any way to loosen it up and make it easier to push? Do I need to lube a cable?

I've got an '03 Ranger 4.0L v6.

 

[mixwhit]

awesome, thanks so much. i got under the dash and found three problems there:

1. the floor mat had slipped under the pedal
2. the carpet padding is cut under the pedal and has deformed into a shape that deflects the pedal
3. the accelerator cable was stretched 1/2"

i fixed 1 and 2. to fix 3 I used a piece of metal flashing and wrapped it around the cable instead of the twist ties (i couldn't get the twist ties wrapped around with one hand).

the result is a HUGE difference. i can get the pedal down all the way now, and the pedal engages right away instead of feeling sloppy.

thx again.