Animation Issues

Ok so here is what I got: SDK sample "Skinned Mesh" code intergrated into my game for loading a mesh with a frame hierarchy, this was only neccesary for the animation controller I get from LoadMeshHierarchyFromX in directx 9.0. Here is my problem: I wanted to make a simple tank for a game that has a few different moving parts:wheels that rotate, turret that rotates and a barrel that moves up and down. I modeled the tank in max and it imported fine. Now for the animations, here is my problem if the turret rotates then the barrel moves how can I keep them connected to eachother and have them both run their animations at different times. So for example the tank might need to rotate its turret pi/4 rads then the barrel needs to move up a bit. So the idea is that when the turret moves the barrel stay connected...simple enough..but also that the barrel can move at any rotated state of the turret. What I need to know: If the solution involves the .x files having a frame hierarchy what options do I need to set up in max so that the exporter gets that hierarchy info? Of course some suggestions on possible solutions. Well thanx