I can't see what the pivot being dry has to with it - it's dry
all the time!

A heavy clutch can be caused by all sorts of things, but is much
preferrable to a very, very light one!

It cound be the pivot on the pedal box is siezed, it could be failing
master and/or slave cylinders, it could be the pivot is starting
to push thouh the arm, it could be the release bearing has
started to melt (usually accompnied by a "swishing" noise when
the pedal is down), it could be the clutch cover is knackered,
etc etc.

Unfortunately there's no really a lot to see without taking it
to bits, or replacing the master and or slave cylinder and seeing
what happens. Flushing the fliud through may help, and would
give you the oprtunity to look for silver mush in the old fluid
which would indicate one of the cylinders is dying.

That lot should make tonights dream a lot more fun! More
cheese Gromit?

Richard