Busted shift cable housing? Picture inside...
 

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...1&d=1176667476

What's going on here? The shifter works fine but this can't be the way it's supposed to look in there. Is the housing just shot, is there some way to rectify this short of replacing the housing?

*grumbles something about mountain bike componentry being too confusing for his friction shifter brain*

Options for fixing a busted cable housing:

1. Replace with new housing.
2. Don't replace housing (as you said, it works just fine)
3. Cut off the housing wires that are sticking out, replace the busted end cap. But if you do this - you may as well just replace the entire housing.

It kind of looks like the end of the end cap broke, and then the remains of the end cap started pushing the plastic outer layer of the housing back.

The simplest thing would be to simply cut the housing up to a point where it looks normal, and put a new end cap on.. however if you need to go to the store to get a new end cap, you should probably get a new housing anyway, just in case.

Shift cable looks rusty too. I'd stop by a shop and replace the housing and cable. It'll shift a lot better.

Good luck!

That's a double cable Accutron shifter and derailleur from the late 60's. Finding parts for that 35 year old never all-that-popular shifter is going to be at best difficult and maybe impossible. If it was my bike I'd replace the shifter, derailleur and shift housing and maybe even the whole bike.

Are you sure it's that old? The shift drum is numbered 1 to 8 and I didn't think 8-speed stuff came on the scene until the late '80's or early 90's.

You have a point. 8-speed would make it much newer than that. It's still an unusual shifter. I wonder what the other end of the cables looks like. And if it was on my bike, I'd still replace the whole thing.

I'm confused.. that looks like a Shimano shifter that can't be more than a few years old, maybe a decade..

Never mind the 8 speeds, the fact that it says 'Shimano V-brake' (ie. later than 1996) or the compressionless shifter housing (later than mid-80's)

Am i missing something here?

The what happened is at some point the housing came out of the shifter and then was "adjusted" because it would not shift right which caused the housing to be compressed thus allowing the housing wires to slowly, one at a time try to extend back into the shifter where they belong. If you have enough slack in the cable and housing, take it off, cut off the bad part and reverse to assemble. If not, replace housing if cable end is not frayed and use a ferrel like the other cable has now.

Had a similiar experience meself.

LOL, sorry mate, but it's a 2003 model Shimano Acera brake/shift combo off of my neglected MTB. ;)

The bottom cable in the picture is the brake. Just replace the shifter housing and end caps. They should sell it by the foot at your LBS. If not you can get some on line.

It'll probably keep working fine, as is, until it stops working. And, you don't know when that will be. Replace the cable and housing. You have to take it all apart, anyway. Unless the cable seems perfectly OK when you take it apart.
SIS didn't come on the market until around '85. Accushift followed later.