I have a 1997 4-door JX kick with auto tranny.  I was planning on putting some gears from a manual-tranny trackick in there when I mount the new tires (31's, 32's, 33's, not sure yet).

I read a post somewhere that briefly mentioned something about "California" trackicks having a different gearing...originally, mine was either sold in AZ or CA (Carfax says "California Dept. of Motor Vehicles, Yuma AZ").

Where is the code (colored dot, serial number or whatever) that tells me what gearing I have..or was the "Caifornia" thing not applicable to my year/model?

Ok, now let's assume the manual-tranny model gears are the ticket...what's a good source for those?  What will I need for the swap?  Just the gears and some fluid?

This is probably basic but I've never swapped gears before.

As far as your question about the Cali gears I believe that the poster was mistaken, but some 4 doors had 5:38 I think or maybe it was something else. As far as what vehicles had what I'm not the person to ask. However as far as finding gears and installing them I'ld recommend the Water Cooler on this board or a local Pick and Pull Junk Yard.  Installation I would recomment that you go to someone that knows what they're doing with them, there are number of problems that can be very bad if there not done correctly.
  I'm sure if I'm wrong someone more knowledgable will jump in, So take it for what it's worth and have fun.

Utah

I just did a search on www.car-part.com and ALL 4 door 1997 sidekicks, both canadian and japanese built, even the sport, came with 5.13's. That's the same ratio as the manual 2 door kicks, so switching the gears wont do you any good. If you want lower gears, you'll need to track down the hard-to-find 5.83 aftermarket gears. Track/kicks have drop-out third members that allow the gear mesh to be set on the workbench, so if you find a set of thirds with the 5.83's already installed, you can just bolt them into your housings yourself, otherwise you'll need to have a trained mechanic set the gear mesh and backlash of the ring and pinion gears to avoid accelerated wear and failure...

If you're interested in 5.83's try Sean DeVinney at Aftermarket 4x4 as he had some for sale all setup ready to bolt in.
I'll PM you his email.

Ok, thanks guys.  I wanna clear a couple things up befoer I buy anything. 

Where did I get the idea that you can put gears from a manual tranny version into an auto tranny versiion for a reduction?  Is that something that can be done only for secrtain 2-door models?  Is there a code on my diff or some digit of the vin# that tells what gearing I have?

These 5.83 gears that Sean DeVinney has are third members with gears installed or just gears?  Sounds great, but also sounds more expensive than gears alone.

And 5.83 is enough reduction for, let's say, 32's?  By "enough" I mean highway/daily/and trails, not extreme crawling. 

This has probably all been asked a million times.  Thanks.

The 5.83's are all setup in 3rds so it's just pull yours out and put the new ones in then sell yours for some $$$ to cover the costs. If you just buy the gears (if you can find some  ) you'll still need to spend $$$ to get them setup correctly.

This also means only being off the road for part of a day while you do the swap which is fairly straight forward.

I found that moving from 5.125's (they're not really 5.13's OR 5.12's) to 5.83's was just about right for running 31's on the highway - My speedo actually reads correctly (it didn't before, on 5.125's - go figure).

Older automatics, had something like 4.30's - that's where the rumor of upgrading to manual R&P's would be a help.  That was back in 90-92, maybe, and only on California Track/Kicks.

my non-california '91 2dr automatic had 4.625 diffs ... and as far as I know all 3sp automatics had 4.625 (with the possible exception being that cali models had 4.30 or something).

I dunno about a later model 4dr with the 4 speed automatic ... could always just count it out (lift one rear tire, count the number of times the pinion spins with one full revolution of the tire).

What gear ratios were available in the Tracker and Sidekick?

http://bbs.zuwharrie.com/content?topic=15579.0

Basicly...

1.3L  1988 Kicks have stupid low gears But I've never seen one....

5.38's were early 8v 4-drs

2dr 8v auto's had 4.62's

2dr 16v auto's had 4.30's

about everything else had 5.125:1's

Up to 1998

Is there anyway to fix the speedo other than gear swapping?  I put 30" tires on mine and the power is fine, but the speedo being off is annoying.  I know on other trannys you can swap the gear on the cable, that possible with sidekicks?

Hmmm,  the Carpart.com thing said mine were 4.62's

Is that good or bad? I'm not crawling or off-road much... You guys know that 

I'm thinking good for torque and acceleration, right?

99 2.0, 5spd

Running stocker tires you're fine with 4.62's. You need the bigger gears when running bigger tires so the engine can have more leverage to spin them...


I just found a Tracker in a U-Pull-it yard with both thirds still in it. The plate on the door sill says it's a japanese-built kick, manual trans, built 10-88. How could I find out what engine was in it, if it had the 1.3? The engine bay is picked clean and empty, the hoods missing and I could find no stickers or tags to clue me in. The only way I know it's a Tracker is the trim badge on the passenger door...

I think the VIN has a number for the engine ... I don't have my FSM handy tho to tell ya for sure

I think the VIN has a number for the engine ... I don't have my FSM handy tho to tell ya for sure

Also could just do the free record check at carfax ... that'll list body style and engine type (dunno how accurate they will be tho)