if i have the toyota axles  front and rear and  leaf springs  what else other then brackets do i need?


will the steering rod on the toyota  work on the sidekick?  will the brakes plumb right in?


will i have a power issue with 33's and the stock motor?


any concerns i need to know before making a comittment on this?

you will have big power issues unless you change the ring and pinions. i used 5.71's and it is ok, not perfect, but ok.

The major concern is probably a lot of work ahead of you if you don't just buy a kit. 

As Drone said, unless you have a place where you can make fabricate or even just weld it may be a long project.  Trail tough does make a kit for trackick's, the price is up there but defiantly worth it.

You will want to rear gear your R&P or be prepared to hate driving on the road.

I'm not sure how crazy you are going to get with this build but the basic layout of part that you will need to complete this build are...
You will have to make a front cross member with 2 spring hangers, 2 rear spring hangers, 4 shackle mounts, 4 shackles. That's the basic do up to get the axles under the rig (with lots of small things left out).  Now its time for steering, the stock Toyota front axles use a push pull J-arm steering set up stock.  So you will have to buy some vendors high steering kit buuutttt if you want to use a your kicks power steering you will want to get sky mans Toyota to zuki high steer. Now you can turn your kick, time for some breaks.... I'm not sure of the master cylinder size on kicks but on samurai you can just swap Toyota brakes right on over due to them both having 7/8th master cylinders.
Turning the tires is a whole different story, for your R&P you would want to go at least 5.29 if not 5.71.  Then you have to adapt your drive shafts to a Toyota flange (not hard just drill it out or get an adapter)  With the extra lift your stock drive lines may not be long enough or be able to handle the angle there going to be run at....this is when you have to call up a Drive line company and get one or two made.

That is pretty much a super quick idea of what it will take, with a lot of small stuff left out.
Getting a kit would keep you on coils so it would be a nice smooth ride!

Hope this gives you an idea

Amilla

ive got a nice shop so the fabrication isnt any concern to me     money is however 

how about a nice lift and some 31's??    power is my major concern   im happy with my sidekick right now  but i have a problem following the bigger trucks through mudholes     if i slide into their tracks  i bottom and its over  im stuck.   



   

heres a pic

as far as having power goes I have 5.29s and a 4.24 tcase with 35s on my tracker with toyota axles on my 1990 tracker and there is no lack of power the thing is crazy ... I'm still finishing it up and doing odds and ends with it but I have steel all over and I did  the welding and the swap was cheap . If you have any questions you can ask I'll give you my input .. Also the people on the forum have helped me a lot as well

Steve 

s27warner,
Do you have any pics of your rig?  Did you keep it leaf sprung?

aimholder if you have a place to do this and all the right tools...go for it!!!
If you do keep it leaf sprung, the price of everything should be kept pretty low.

Do you plan on building the axles up first? Or just leaving them semi stock for now?


Amilla

No amillia I don't ... I have a bunch of before pics... I'm in the middle of painting it I'll take some pics tommarow if I get a chance... And yes it's leaf sprung

i would leave the axles stock ive decided against it for now     im worried about driveability afterward and other things  its my daily   


as of right now i think im going to go with some jeep cherokee springs build a bracket to move the strut mount up  and some 30's or 31's 

an easy lift  and decent set of tires   and i can probably do it for about 100 bucks total if i buy the tires used

While you have the front axle out you might want to think about adding a truss or at least some knuckle ball gussets. 
By the way, what year is your front axle?

Have you thought about using some YJ spirngs?
Something like a 4/5 pack?  I'm running that on my samurai with and its pretty dam flexy.


Amilla

its a 90 sidekick  i dont do a whole lot in it    some mudholes and 4 wheeler trails   mainly 

my issue is the big trucks run in the same mudholes and if i slide out of my groove into theirs  thats the end of it 

i need better tires  and just a few inches of lift    i picked the cherokee springs because after looking i realized its almost the exact same setup   plus its a much larger vehicle so it should handle the weight


what do you mean by ball reinforcements???   pics? link?

oh and id like to do some creek driving   pretty soon   

This is what i did to my front axle, its out of an 83 yota so it has a short lower truss in it.


Marlin crawlers knuckle ball gussets
http://www.marlincrawler.com/images/karmor_mbig.jpg

All the axle armor is pretty cheap
Knuckle ball gussets - $30
Upper axle truss - $25
Diff cover (I made it) - $30 for 2 of em

Bomb proof housing for 85 bucks.

Amilla

Aimholder, If you just want a simple cheap lift to clear bigger tires you could go with coil spacers. I use the 1.5" coil and strut spacers in front and 2" coil spacers rear. With shocks from a Crown Vic you can run 31's easily. Here is a pic of my 97 4dr. with that setup and a 3" body lift. The coil spacers kit sells for $120 total shipped to you.





The spacers: