I have already made a cable operated system, however ended up breaking the fork within a week, so i went back to the vacuum for the time being.
For my home mead system, i cut the vacuum motor off at the bell part and put a rubber cap over that end so as not to get water in or let gear oil out. I drilled a hole in the other end, in line with the actuating rod, and drilled and tapped the rod to accept a 1/4" threaded cable. Made up a bracket for the cable, routed it to the inside, and had a cable disconnect.
Worked ok, for a couple of days, but as I said before, I ended up breaking the fork and was stuck without 4wd (for 1/2 hour, while i switched back to vacuum). Oh, i plugged the line that puts it in 2wd, and joined together the one that puts it in 4wd to the one going to the light switch, so when i put the transfer case in 4wd, the light lit. If anyone wants pictures, let me know and I will e-mail them, broken fork and all.