ppg677

What am I supposed to use here as a cable ferrule for a normal derailleur cable (the short piece that attaches between the actual derailleur and the frame)? A normal cable ferrule doesn't work because it is too wide to insert into the cable stop braze-on. Last time I used a raw cable without any ferrule, it started coming right through the cable stop braze-on. I'm surely botching terminology. I don't know what to call this stuff.

I see old-school bikes with a short wire coil that appears to be just the inside of a modern cable, but slightly wider.

Old Yeller

You need a stepped ferrule like this... Local bike shop should have one.

Vintage_Cyclist

You need a step-down ferrule. One end is large enough for the cable housing ferrule and the other end is small enough to fit into the cable boss. That probably steps down from 5mm on the cable housing side to 4mm on the boss side.

masi61

You might try a stepped ferrule. Something like 4mm/5mm. This will fit more securely, not flop around & will accommodate index ready compressionless housing. Jagwire or Shimano branded kits often include a variety in the bag.

dddd

Ferrules are very critical for preserving the ends of compressionless housing, and must be sized for a slop-free fit to prevent any of the lengthwise strands from migrating into the hole that the cable must pass through.

I sometimes have to search to find the right-sized ferrule for both the housing and for the cable stop. I have taken to keeping my ferrules more organized since I use a lot of them and hate to waste time searching for the right one.

The particular ID size of some late-'80's Schwinn's housing stops under the chainstay has recently given me some grief, had to spread them open to get a ~5mm stepped ferrule to fit. Seems they used standard housing with no ferrule on the 6s models, but that had to go for good shifting to be realized.

ChromeChainstay

actually,

shimano is 4mm
campagnolo is 4.1 mm

i think

just bought some campy step down • steel
and shimano step down alum.

the old campagnolo wound wire is 4mm

and then again, i could be totally wrong

bulgie 

In case having Campy part numbers might help in your searches:

On a full-campy bike, that piece of housing from chainstay to mech (with the proper ferrules at each end) would be part number 617 if the bike has a #621 "diver's helmet" chainstay braze-on.
For bikes with no braze-on, they made the housing stop clip #636, and it doesn't use a step-down ferrule. The housing for that came with matching "plain" ferrules at both ends, part #622

This is from Catalog 17a ('79 I think).




I don't remember ever seeing a part number for just the ferrules. I wouldn't be surprised if they did sell bags of ferrules to distributors or bike shops, but they didn't call them out in the catalog, at least not in the NR-SR era or earlier. I stopped paying attention to Campy after Record-C came out.

Oh wait here it is, in Catalog 18 ('84 I think). Plain ferrule is #619, step-down is #620. Sorry for writing the above out of ignorance, but I'm not going to delete it now, after all that typing.


Only the pickiest concours judge would take off points for not having the period-correct ferrules, but if you want it to look excruciatingly correct, please avoid anything made of plastic, or black or any color besides "silver" (broadly defined). Campy's were dull-plated steel, but a silver aluminum ferrule could be acceptable, at least it wouldn't make me want to hurl. They're thicker-wall though, so they don't look completely right to us old guys who grew up with tutto Campagnolo. Please for God's sake don't use one that says Jagwire or <shudder> Shimano on it...

Kidding! Well, mostly. I do have a small stash of actual Campy-brand cables, housings and ferrules that I keep for total period-correct builds. But for most bikes, just making it work is good enough.

oneclick 

Naptha takes the printing off both of those housings.

thinktubes 

8 year old thread

oneclick 

Hey, a newbie looking for his 10 finds a ball and puts it over the net, you hit it back a few times so he can get there.

thinktubes 

Andy_K 

At least he attempted to provide new info for a common question.

For diver's helmet stops, I use Shimano stepdown ferrules with Jagwire outer cables. It works perfectly with indexed shifting.

Millstone

I drilled through an aluminium valve cap. Worked just fine

ChromeChainstay

good to know, thanks

Lenton58 

THANKS ... I've tried other solutions when I could not locate step-down ferrules — and failed.

Lenton58 

As for me, finding step-down ferrules was once a very difficult task. Recently, I found a shop here in Sendai that has a jar of metal ferrules. Apparently the proprietor obtains them from Shimano.

MORE: recently I visited another shop owned by a friend who is both the proprietor and mechanic. I needed some advice concerning a derailleur hanger. He spotted that a plastic ferrule contained in a Shimano cable kit was disintegrating. He scolded me for using it. The metal variety was substituted with satisfying results — not a perfect fit for an ancient Sugio 75 component, but good enough.

AND: more recently I've learned that some vintage components do not mate exactly with currently available step-down ferrules. At least not the ones I can find. I can't exactly set down the details here. So if this dinosaur thread stays open for added discussion, contributions and blah blah details, I'll be a faithful follower.

tkamd73 

Similar cable stop on my Bianchi, went to look to see what I used, yup step down ferrule.
Tim

Piff 

My 80s Raleigh also has a diving bell cable stop along the chainstay. The frame did come with the correctly sized stepdown ferrule to fit in the cable stop, only problem is that it doesn't fit modern index derailleur housing, the housing is too fat. I 'solved' the problem by using another stepdown ferrule and another regular ferrule. Indexes fine so...maybe I don't mess with it.

And I've also got to figure out the appropriate stepdown for CLB brakes, the ferrule and housing is too large to fit.

Vintage_Cyclist

Custom step-down ferrule made from a barrel adjuster liberated off a bonked-up old derailleur. Shortened the smaller threaded end to fit the stop and filed-down the threads and barrel ridges smooth.

ridelikeaturtle

OK, ancient thread, but this might be useful to someone, someday.

The ferrules / cable end caps I had for brake and shift cables fit the housing just fine, but the cable stops on this old Motobecane were not cooperating. While the housing would fit into the cable stop, the ferrule would not. FIX: cut the ferrule down and slide it in place, then run the cable, then shove the housing in place. This "sandwiched" the ferrule in place so it could do what it's supposed to do, to stop the housing from compressing. There's nothing saying the ferrule has to be a certain length; it just needs to go over the end of the housing and up against the cable stop.

Here's the bare frame, hopefully you can see how the frame's cable stops are designed, which made it so cutting the ferrules down was the only way they were going to fit.

Andy_K 

I haven't had an 80's Raleigh, but the older Raleighs that have come to my garage have all had something that seems to be uniquely British. It looks kind of like the Italian diver's helmet, but it has different dimensions.



These have a 5 mm inner diameter. The 619 ferrule (without the stepdown) from bulgie's part's diagram fits it with a vintage steel coil cable. For indexed shifting, I hadn't been able to find anything that fit perfected until I stumbled into an arrangement with @oneclick who machined the ferrule in the picture above for me.

1989Pre 

To select the proper step-down ferrule, you should make sure you are getting what you need. Overall length, length of the narrower section, inside diameter, outside diameter and outside diameter of the narrower section should be ascertained.

Lenton58 

That would be perfection. Of course it would be ideal if we could own lathes and mill them to exact specification. That's not gonna happen in my case, so I hope someone can come on here and recommend a source that can supply any variety of ferrule we need. The last one I used was only a "make-do". It works, but the step-down bit as too small. My mechanic friend went through his whole collection for a perfect fit and the "make do" was all he could find. Everything else was too big.

I still have to try the metal valve cap bodge that is mentioned above. I need an odd sized step-down ferrule for a Sugino 75 derailleur.

Road Fan

I usually don’t care if it looks perfect, but I do want the cables to work perfectly and last forever (not asking much, I know!) lol. Sizing is based on housing OD, braze on ID, and the length of the skinny end that fits into the braze on. You simply should measure it and buy accordingly. Also, I really like machined ferrules.