Has anyone converted a Dana 300 to a rear cable shift setup?

I have a 231 box4rocks that will be going into a TJ with a flipped D300. I will be doing the ultra cheap case flip. I plan on making some new shift rails using some 5/8 chrome shaft material for corrosion resistance and to help prevent leaks. I am also going to try to either find a double lip seal for the shift rails or run two seals per rail (I hate gear oil leaks). I would like to not have to flip the doubler case for exhaust clearance reasons, but if I must, then no big deal. The problem is that there does not seem to be a lot of clearance between the front driveshaft and where the cable shifters need to go on the front of the case.

So, I've been looking and have not found where anyone has made some custom shift rails and installed them exiting the rear of the case on a D300. I can make a custom seal housing for the rear, mill a flat spot for it to sit on the back of the case, and drill and tap the case to hold the seal housing. I would like to have the cables simply turn up and forward to some shift levers mounted in the tub floor, with twin stick shifters inside that are inside the factory console. The box4rocks will have an air shifter, so three levers are not necessary.

Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated. Or, if someone has already done this, then I will search a little harder.

Btt

I have a friend that did exactly what you described above. He built his shifters with steel rod and made a bracket that attached back of the case. I don't know much about the specifics, but, I know it works pretty well. He used cables and routed them to a custom bracket inside the stock TJ shifter location. He also managed to get the plenetary case shifter in there too.

He's not a big internet guy and didn't take any pictures during the install. I'm sorry I can't be more help except to say, yup, it's possible and it's been done.

Thanks, that is what I was hoping to hear. I am just mainly concerned with running into a significant problem that I just don't forsee at this point. I would do the 231 shifter in there as well, but the pneumatics/electrical for the 231 air shifter has already been installed except for one more hose.

I've done two homemade cable shift setups, I dunno that either is exactly what you're looking for but it might give you some ideas.

On my 300, also with the Box4Rox, non flipped though.
http://www.phatserver.net/~chris/XJbuild/111906/cable1.JPG

On my buddy's 205:
http://www.phatserver.net/~chris/bronco/cable10.jpg

http://www.phatserver.net/~chris/bronco/cable11.jpg

http://www.phatserver.net/~chris/bronco/cable12.jpg

http://www.phatserver.net/~chris/bronco/cable9.jpg

Here are a couple of discussions on a flipped D300 that show a couple of different methods of cable attachment:

Here's one (http://www.jeepkings.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=54227) that has reworked shift rails and attaches the cables from the back of the case.

Here's another (http://www.krawlerz.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2613) showing my cable shift configuration where I left the rails pointing forward unmodified but have the cables coming in from the back - you'll see the D300 stuff towards the end of my build journal (not up to date, but you'll get the drift).

Thank you all for the replies, it gives me some good ideas. I will probably be building a seal housing very similar to the one shown in Alfons' link, but with some minor changes and using some Summit shifter cables. Thanks again.