It depends on how you made the mesh, but at least for me once I animated the unit I group everything (mesh, bones, and IK at once) and can rotate the group freely, just never ungroup it while in its new rotation because it will distort everything. I generally do this because I always make my models in the wrong direction. It doesn't always work because for some unknown reason sometimes max wont let u group iks to other things. Try that.
