I have a totaled out sammy and im thinking of getting a 4dr sidekick/tracker so i can take the wife and kid off roading with me. Both axles and t-case from the sammy are still good. Can a swap the t-case into the sidekick? T-case has 6.5 gears in it. How well does the ifs hold up with a lift and 31s? Or just swap my axles from the sammy? Any help would be helpful

You can get a kicker-3 type setup to allow you to run the Samurai t-case behind the Tracker one, but if your going that route you will probably want to find some Toyota axles or something else with much lower gearing. 

The IFS will hold up to 31's but it really depends on how you wheel it.  If you go with a steel front end from a GV, I believe, you won't have to worry about breaking things.

How hardcore of a rig are you trying to make?

You dont really need the kicker3, just TT's tailshaft adaptor for the trans, fabricate a draveshaft joint and mount for the sammi TC. I wouldnt mess around with the rear axles, a sammi front axle can be retrofitted to work with a coil over similar to Calmini's setup. The Sammi's TC with the 6.5 lowrange also reduces the highrange gearing addressing the one serious downfall of the Sidekicks gearing with 31"+ tires.

I have not had any issues running 31's with the IFS, (though I have the AE 4.5" lift), and the road handling and manners far surpass any solid axle conversion, the Mrs. should greatly approve of that! 

Cool thanks. Id love to be able to run the same trails with my sidekick i did with my sammy but im sure the ifs wouldnt hold up to axle alley

The Sammi's TC with the 6.5 lowrange also reduces the highrange gearing addressing the one serious downfall of the Sidekicks gearing with 31"+ tires.

The one issue with the 6.5:1 is you are looking at a 1.75:1 high range reduction.  That means you will be geared for 47" tires.  Even the stock Samurai t-case gives you a 1.409:1, good for 38" tires.  But if you swap over to different axles with a taller ratio then the stock 5.12 you can offset that.

As for the IFS, BRD HNTR hasn't had any issues with his holding up and I hope to do some more testing on the White Rabbit.  As long as you don't lift the front end to high and put to much of an angle on the CV's they hold up without issues.

I didnt know the sidekick ratio was that low.

didnt realize the 6.5 had that much high range reduction,

I thought it was only 30% reduction in high

I thought it was only 30% reduction in high

30% over a stock Samurai.  

Here are some basic numbers from a while back.  The will differ a bit based on the company that a makes the gears -

Model:
Low Ratio - High Ratio

Stock Samurai/SJ-413:
2.268 - 1.409
Stock SJ-410:
2.511 - 1.58
4.16:1
4.16 - 1.57
4.9:1
4.89 - 1.63
5.8:1
5.89 - 1.66
6.5:1
6.5 - 1.75
8:1
8.0 - 1.75

You dont really need the kicker3, just TT's tailshaft adaptor for the trans, fabricate a draveshaft joint and mount for the sammi TC. I wouldnt mess around with the rear axles, a sammi front axle can be retrofitted to work with a coil over similar to Calmini's setup. The Sammi's TC with the 6.5 lowrange also reduces the highrange gearing addressing the one serious downfall of the Sidekicks gearing with 31"+ tires.

I have not had any issues running 31's with the IFS, (though I have the AE 4.5" lift), and the road handling and manners far surpass any solid axle conversion, the Mrs. should greatly approve of that! 

tailshaft adapter? like eliminates the t-case? didnt know he made those
or do you speak of the slip yoke eliminator?

I know they make a tailshaft adaptor for the automatics, but not sure about the 5 speeds.

http://www.trailtough.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=228&category_id=13&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=53

They also sell a full conversion kit:

http://www.trailtough.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=234&category_id=13&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=53