connecting center pull dia-compe lever cables I have some old dia-compe center pull brakes. 

Inside the lever is the little roller pin with a slot in it for the cable and the small hole on the bottom and the larger hole on the top that the nut on the end of the cable sits in. These have suicide levers and a red metal pin sticking out of the inside of the brake handle.

My question is: how do I thread the cable so that the nut is in the big (proper hole) and doesn't fall out when I put tension on it to hook it on to the caliper cable? 

The cable is curved it has taken a set from being on there so long. I think it's too simple and I've been looking at it too long.
dlu. exactly. thanks for the terminology reminders. it seems like the socket is upside down. the slug is stepped down from about a 1/4" to an 1/8" so it has to go in that hole which is shaped to accept it and the cable comes out the opposite side of the socket through the smaller hole. what am i missing?


I think the only thing that you're missing is the knowledge that the part that anchors the cable (with the hole) is free to rotate. One way to get it to go back is to take the end of the brake cable and catch the edge of the socket or slot and then drag the cable out again. Usually this will get the "socket part" to spin back around the way it should be facing and you can drop the cable in for real.