Offsetting shifter piston?

[asid61]

I'm in the middle of making a small gearbox that utilizes the Vex ballshifter shaft. However, the cims are the first stage of gearing and go straight to the shifting shaft, and as a result the cims are so close to the shifting shaft that I can't fit the regular Vex shifting piston inline with the shifting shaft. Heck, I can't even fit a thin long piston there.
I'm faced with two options: Place the shifting piston behind the cims (~4.5" away from the shifting shaft) or to put the piston to one side and connect it by a bar to the shifting shaft. Is it dangerous to offset the piston to one side and use a metal bar to connect the piston to the shifting shaft?