Yes, when I turn the input it works just fine. The bearing looks good. The shaft is tight inside the housing and spins with no play at all. I can't tell if the inside is wallowed out or if the end of the cable is rounded. Which one is more likely? The cable end doesn't really look that bad, its just so small that it doesn't engage with the input.
If I could get some type of metal sleeve to go over the end of the cable (like a metal aglet that goes on a shoelace), and shove that into the input, I think that would solve my problem.