Yes I noticed that, our cable had been doing the same thing.
Also they had really scraped/gouged the top of the fuel tank.
When I fixed ours a couple of years ago, I thought I had the only one that was doing that. My concern was that the stop cable would hang on the fitting sometime and either brake the fitting or hang the rudder before it reached the stop.
I worked on the cables to orient them so that they would pivot towards the stern of the boat, and added protection on the cables to keep them from scraping the tank, hull, or wiring.
Something that I noticed on your photos was the absence of snubbers on the stop cables. I don't remember where I have seen them for sale, but they are shown in the Edson Catalog as part of an assembly.
http://www.edsonmarine.com/marinestore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=274&products_id=1361
As short as these cable are, something to reduce the shock is a good addition.
Thanks,
