Before I moved to the world of Just Empty Every Pocket I was a Hummer driver. I know, to some this is blasphemy, doubly so since my Hummer was an H3. I’m not apologetic though, it was a great truck and I had a blast wheeling it… but unfortunately it had to go. Why? Well… It broke.

“Ok, so what?” you think. When you wheel you break things. It’s a part of the sport. Everyone recognizes that and accepts it for what it is. Unfortunately, the H3’s demise wasn’t really that it broke. It was more of a what, where, and who situation.

What: Both tie rods (fourth pair that season) and the steering rack (split clean in half!)
Where: Smack dab in the middle of a bog
Who: My wife, who unfortunately isn’t all that keen on wheeling, and my then four year old son

The next day when we finally got home my wife said to me: “…Rob, I don’t care what you do, I don’t care what you get, but if you want us to wheel with you, you need to get a different truck…” Well, I know a good thing when I hear it; you don’t need to tell me twice!

Earlier in the year I had wheeled my H3 in Moab. When I was there I had the opportunity to wheel with, and ride in, a friends Jeep JK Rubicon Unlimited. The difference in capabilities was night and day over the H3. With this ultimatum from my wife I knew this was my new vehicle. With the rich assortment of aftermarket parts available, I knew whatever Jeep I got, I could make it mine.

Lifted Trail Duty JK in Moab

I ended up getting a 2008 Rubicon Unlimited and soon started thinking about what I wanted to do to make this Jeep the best for me and my family. I started my plan with what sort of lift kit I wanted. My Jeep still had to function as a daily driver so whatever I decided to do had to meet some basic criteria:

• It had to be safe
• It had to be dependable
• It had to offer great, uncompromising performance
• It had to be high enough so that my mother-in-law couldn’t get in (hehehe)

I started out by doing research on some various well known kits. I figured that these kits must be the real deal, otherwise their manufactures wouldn’t be the major players that they are. Unfortunately I kept on hearing about JK owners having issues with these lifts: “I have death wobble”; “I have bump steer”; “I had the track bar break clean off!”

Hmmmmm… Perhaps the major players had adapted their designs from prior TJ lifts or perhaps they rushed their designs to the marketplace… This is all speculation and I certainly can’t single out any manufacturer, but these stories said enough to me that I wanted to keep looking. Safety was number one on my list and that was one thing I would not to compromise on. So I kept on looking... and looking… and looking… Ultimately I decided that I just didn’t have enough experience in the Jeep world so I went and spoke with a friend of mine.

Phil Day is the owner of Trail Duty and someone whose opinion I value very much. He has a lot more experience wheeling than I do and when he likes or dislikes something he’ll let you know, and he’ll let you know why.

When we started talking about lifts he asked me what I was looking for. I told him I was looking for a standard arm length three inch lift with adjustable upper and lower control arms, a lift that was safe, was well engineered, and worked equally well on both the trail and the street. (A long arm kit would have been great, but outside the scope of what I figured I was capable handling. This type of lift typically requires removal of the OEM control arm mounts and possible welding on of new mounts. I had neither the tools or skills to accomplish this so long arm kits were a non-starter)

Phil thought about it a moment and then said I had a bunch of options if I was willing to compromise, but if I wanted the best, no compromise lift available then I should take a good long look at Poly Performance; specifically at the 3” Synergy Stage III lift. According to Phil, they weren’t the cheapest, but without question Poly Performance was the best.

I asked around on a variety of internet forums and the response was overwhelming: Poly Performance Synergy lifts rock! Okay, so maybe the response didn’t exactly come back as “Poly Performance Synergy lifts rock” but you get the idea. The response was unanimous and there wasn’t a negative comment in the bunch. With that, my mind was made up and knowing what direction I was going in, I started saving my pennies. It proved to be a whole lot of pennies but as far as I was concerned, my family is worth it so there really wasn’t any question.

History

When I left the Hummer world for the Jeep world, Poly Performance wasn’t a name I was familiar with at all. There are other companies out there that for me at least, had much more name recognition. Maybe that’s why Poly Performance is not a name that is rolling off of every Tom, Dick, or Harry’s tongue. Or at least until you start digging deeper and learn the difference between hype and actual results. Move over to the performance buggy or competition Rock Crawler arenas and Poly Performance is huge. This is an area where results matter and failure is not an option. If these no-nonsense wheelers were that impressed with Poly Performance then there’s obviously something there.

Seeing as I had a lot of pennies to save before purchasing my lift, I decided to find out a bit of the story behind Poly Performance and their Synergy lifts.

Poly Performance started with a pair of friends at California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, otherwise known as Cal Poly. Dave Schlossberg and Drew Burroughs met through the Poly Goats 4wd club. Dave was majoring in Industrial Technology and Drew in Mechanical Engineering. Drew graduated a few years before Dave and started working at Sway-A-Way (SAW) designing off-road racing shocks, axles, and torsion bars.

Dave started Poly Performance while still in school; at about the time that rock crawling competition was becoming popular. Through Drew, Dave started selling SAW shocks and rod ends; components that allowed for more performance on rock crawling buggies. Soon Drew was designing additional products that Dave would have produced in area machine shops and then sold through Poly Performance. Drew moved on from SAW to Full Traction as their suspension designer. He designed all their suspension kits in that time period, including the TJ long arm kit and some IFS truck kits.

In mid 2005 Dave and Drew were in a position to work full time together and started a new company: Poly Performance Mfg. which as the name suggests is a manufacturing business, with their products mostly sold through Poly Performance, major resellers like Quadratec, and smaller performance resellers like Genright and Trail Duty.

In early 2008 I had the opportunity to ask Drew some questions:

RS: What was the plan behind Poly Performance and the new Jeep JK?

Drew: When the new Jeep JK's came out, we figured all the manufactures would be starting from scratch so we decided to get in on it by making premium JK parts, not just what everyone else was making but to make the best parts we could and not cut corners. Our products are not the cheapest on the market but we feel that are definitely the best.

RS: I'm interested in the design goals of the JK synergy lifts. What were you designing for and did you get it?

Drew: The design goal of the synergy suspension was to make a complete suspension package that works together, that is how we got the Synergy name. One of our strong points is shocks, which is where I feel most of the other suspension manufactures fall short. We spent many hours with the spring and shock tuning and making sure all the parts worked correctly, like the track bar and bump stop brackets. I feel that we have accomplished what we set out to do. Everyone that has used the kit has been extremely impressed with what we've done.

Build and Engineering

I started my install on a Saturday morning at a friend’s garage with only basic tools and even more basic knowledge. You know how they say “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing”? Yeah, that was me. I had never installed a lift before but I was confident that I could do this. As it turned out I was right. I made some missteps and my buddies’ wife kicked me out of their garage way too early in the evening on Saturday and Sunday but by Monday afternoon I was done. If I had been able to work later into the evening I’m confident I would have been done within the weekend.

Trying not to get kicked out of the garage by friends ANGRY wife

I’m not going to bore you with the specific installation steps. Sorry, no step 1: put Jeep on jack stands; no step 73: Tighten bolt to 80ft/lbs of torque. There’s a place for that sort of article, but unless you are installing that exact product many of the details are lost on the reader. Instead I’m going to tell you about some key points that I think make a real difference in the Poly Performance Synergy lifts vs. the competition and why I chose to go this route instead of something else.

At the time I was doing my research the Poly Performance Synergy lift system was available in three different configurations: Stage I, Stage II, and Stage III. Each version was made in a 3” and 4.5” height for 4-door JKs or 4” for 2-door JKs. Since then a 2” and 3” option has been added for the 4-door and 2-door respectively.

Each package contains these items:

• Springs (Front & Rear)
• Sway Bar Links (Front)
• Bump Stop Spacers (Front & Rear)
• Rear Track Bar Bracket
• Stainless Steel Brake Lines (Front & Rear)

Stage I kit adds:

• Sway Bar Relocation Kit
• Front Track Bar
• Rear Sway Bar Drop Bracket Kit
• Front Sway Bar Relocation Kit

Stage II kit adds:

• Adjustable Lower Control Arms (Front & Rear)
• Front Track Bar Bracket
• High Steer Drag Link Kit
• Rear Sway Bar Links
• Rear Lower Shock Mount Kit

Stage III kit adds:

• Adjustable Lower Control Arms (Front & Rear)
• Adjustable Upper Control Arms (Front & Rear)
• Front Track Bar Bracket
• High Steer Drag Link Kit
• Rear Sway Bar Links
• Rear Lower Shock Mount Kit

All the kits have the option of:

• Poly Performance Synergy Monotube Shocks
• Fox Remote Reservoir Shocks
• Fox Remote Reservoir with CD Adjuster Shocks
• Adjustable Track Bars
• Front Sway Bar Disconnect Kit (for non-Rubicon Models)

When Poly Performance initially introduced the Synergy lift systems the Stage I system was very similar to the Stage II system, the only difference really being how the two systems handled their front end steering geometry. Since then Poly Performance has greatly simplified the Stage I system bringing it to a point where people interested in an entry level kit are now able to get Poly Performance quality at a greatly reduced price. Because of these change the remainder of this article mostly covers components found in the Synergy Stage II and Stage III systems.

I chose to get a 3” Stage III system with the Poly Performance Synergy Shocks. It included everything I wanted with fully adjustable control arms, and addressed my safety concerns with front and rear track bar brackets.

There are some really impressive features in the Synergy kits that show the thought and engineering that went into these components. Four components in particular come to mind: The front and rear Track Bar Brackets, the High Steer Drag Link kit, the Adjustable control arms, and the Rear Lower Shock Mount Kit.

Rear Track Bar Bracket

When I was researching safety aspects of certain lift kits and how certain components affect handling, I stumbled across some interesting information concerning roll center. Roll center greatly impacts how lifted vehicles handle, so this is an important topic to consider when talking about a lift.

The Society of Automotive Engineers define roll center as, "The point in the transverse vertical plane through any pair of wheel centers at which lateral forces may be applied to the sprung mass without producing suspension roll". On the Jeep JK, and solid axle vehicles in particular, the roll center will usually be close to the center point of the track bar.

If the roll center and a vehicle’s center of mass are different then a “moment arm” is created. This moment arm will have a very large influence on how your vehicle handles during cornering. Simply put, the larger the moment arm, the worse your vehicle will handle.

If a suspension design uses track bar relocation brackets mounted on the frame, the roll center is lowered and the moment arm is increased. The result is a vehicle with poor handling characteristics. Alternately, if the track bar relocation bracket is mounted on the axle, the roll center is raised and the moment arm in decreased. The result is a vehicle that has better handling characteristics.

Poly Performance addresses roll center by using axle mounted track bar brackets front and rear in the Synergy Stage II and Stage III lift kits while the Stage I kit gets a Rear Track Bar Bracket and an adjustable front track bar instead. By doing this they have increased the vehicle roll center and have decreased the moment arm. The end result is a JK that corners like its on rails. I wasn’t expecting sports car like performance but I find that my JK handles as well, if not better, than it did when stock.

Front Track Bar Bracket

I mentioned above that the Stage I kit utilizes an adjustable track bar on the front axle. This is mostly done for cost as this kit is less expensive then the Stage II kit. The adjustable track bar helps set the axle track correctly, but does nothing to improve the roll center. At the same time, an adjustable track bar doesn't lower the roll center and increase moment arm as frame mounted track bar brackets do.

One dangerous issue that some JK owners have experienced is the OEM track bar attachment points being ripped completely off the axle. This could be attributed to lift kits or simply the stresses of wheeling your JK off road. Flat out, it shouldn’t happen, but there have been too many occurrences to dismiss. Obviously Poly Performance had seen or heard of this too and designed their track bar relocation brackets accordingly. Poly’s brackets answer this problem by utilizing both the stock attachment points and by wrapping around the axle, relieving additional stresses on the stock attachment points. The result is not only a stronger relocation bracket, but one that also addresses the needs for improved vehicle handling.

Note: In an effort to continually improve their products, Poly Performance has introduced a version of their track bar brackets that utilize a cam-bolt for fine adjustment of track bar and axle positioning. This version of the track bar bracket was not available when I purchased my lift.

Using a relocation bracket on the rear axle is a pretty simple process, but up front is an entirely different animal. At the front axle, steering geometry needs to be considered as the relationship of the track bar and drag link needs to be addressed to prevent negative steering characteristics.

In simple terms the front track bar and drag link need to parallel each other. Using a track bar relocation bracket raises the track bar at the axle end and now you’re not longer parallel. Some suspension designs handle this by using a frame mounted relocation bracket for the track bar and then adding a drop Pitman arm to keep the drag link parallel. But remember how we talked about roll center up above? Yep, you guessed it, this solution lowers the roll center and increases moment arm. The end result is poorer handling. If the design doesn’t include a drop pitman arm things get even worse. The drag link and track bars being non-parallel will result in bump steer. Not good.

Poly Performance solves this problem by including their High Steer Drag Link kit. The kit mounts the drag link over the steering knuckle rather than under it as the stock one does. By doing this the drag link is now parallel to the track bar again. The Poly Performance drag link not only corrects any steering geometry issues and is substantially stronger than the factory drag link, but also the design causes the drag link to be more horizontal, resulting in improved steering feel.

Drag Link Flip Kit – Knuckle needs to be reamed to fit

The Track Bar Relocation Brackets and the High Steer Drag Link kit addressed my concerns of vehicle handling and safety, while the Synergy control arms addressed my needs for full adjustability.

The Synergy arms are fully adjustable just like many other manufacturers control arms. What sets the Poly Performance control arms apart is that they are fully adjustable while remaining on the vehicle. There is no need to remove them from the vehicle to check and recheck your adjustments. The arms feature a threaded sleeve that allows them to be lengthened or shortened depending on which way you turn the sleeve. This makes adjusting your pinion and castor angles a snap and allows you easy adjustability if you want or need to extend or shorten your wheelbase.

27mm socket gives good reference to size of massive rod ends

The last of the key features I’m going to focus on is the Rear Lower Shock Mount Kit. When Jeep designed their axles they created brackets for shock mounting that hang far below the axle. I’m sure that part of the rational behind this was to be able to increase shock length for maximum articulation. Unfortunately this design also eats into your available ground clearance beneath the axle. The Poly Performance Rear Lower Shock Mount Kit ends this problem by giving you a mounting solution that is raised up above the stock location and is adjustable for the height lift you’ve installed. The bracket integrates with the rear sway bar mounts for a secure mounting solution that also double as protection for bolt threads against any rock mangling.

Rear Shock Relocation Bracket

All these components are a great example of why Poly Performance calls these kits “Synergy”. Every component is designed to work with the other kit components. The Poly engineers have clearly thought through the effects of changing components within each kit and how each component interacts. The end result is nothing short of brilliant.

As you’ve read my article you may be thinking that I’m head over heels in love with Poly and I’m looking at the world through rose-colored glasses. Well not exactly. There are some things that need improvement namely the installation instructions. When I got my kit I was expecting a master installation guide or instruction set. Well… there wasn’t one. There was an excellent set of instructions for each component package though. Unfortunately I had no way of knowing what order in which to install each component package. This resulted in a bit of back tracking and silly mistakes on my part, but in the end everything got taken care of.

On the Trail

So, after reading all of this you know that Poly Performance takes its products seriously and has put some incredible engineering and thought into their Synergy lifts. That brings the important question: Does it work?

When I had my H3 I equipped it with a set of 35” Hankook DynaPro MT tires and Staun Internal beadlocks. They were in great condition and economics was saying “no” to a set of new tires, so with a set of Pro-Comp wheels they went onto the new JK. With the tires set to 33psi and riding on Poly Peformance Synergy Monotube shocks the street ride started out firm. Once I added a RockHard shorty bumper and Smittybilt XCR-8 winch the ride smoothed out some. When I added my recovery gear, a box of tools, and spares the ride became even better. Maybe not limo plush, but definitely better.

Easy first run – no sweat with the Synergy III Lift

I asked Drew about this and he told me that the Synergy kits are designed with the expectation that the owner will be eventually adding heavy duty components like steel off road bumpers with winches and tire carriers. Unlike many other lifts that may find their springs taxed by this extra weight, the Poly Performance Synergy lifts are designed from the beginning with this in mind.

Stopping was always a bit of a worry in my stock JK compared to other vehicles I’ve owned. You’d step hard on the brakes and the JK was just like the Energizer Bunny; it just kept going and going and going…

The braided stainless steel extended brake lines included in the Synergy kit have solved this problem. Pedal feel is now firm and stops are much quicker and controlled. This added performance comes despite the fact that each new wheel/tire/beadlock combination is probably over 35lbs heavier and has a three inch greater diameter than stock. Even if you never lift your JK, invest in a set of braided stainless steel brake lines. The performance difference is that good and as far as I’m concerned, it may just save your life.

The day finally came when I had completed all the various small things I wanted done before I took her off road: Rock Hard gas tank skid installed - Check! 4xFiX Evaporation Canister Relocation kit installed - Check! It was time to go wheeling!

I chose a medium-hard trail for the shake-down run. I wanted to challenge my new JK but decided it was smarter to get a feel for how she would handle before I started getting into tougher terrain. This trail was the perfect choice.

The first obstacle was a large rock face that is off camber to the trail, with a narrow approach and a fairly large step up. Below is a picture of a stock JK Rubicon Unlimited that I spotted over the same obstacle a year ago. As it went up the rock face the drivers side front tire hung in the air, even with the sway bar being disconnected.

Stock JK

A year later on my shakedown run I took a similar line up this rock. The Poly Performance lift gave me plenty of articulation to keep all four wheels on the ground, easily climbing this face. I had so much fun doing it I turned around and did a more aggressive line that I had never been able to do before. The JK walked it.

Poly Performance lifted JK has no issues with harder line

As we continued down the trail I kept on recalling how the stock Rubicon had dealt with the same obstacles that I was facing now. Where the stock Rubicon had to weave in and out to avoid getting high-centered on the larger rocks, my added clearance allowed me to crawl right over. In places where the stock Rubicon would be hanging a wheel in the air, my increased articulation kept all four wheels planted firmly on the ground.

This trail used to be tough. What happened?

You can see in these pictures that the Poly Performance lift articulates well. While the following isn’t scientific in the least, it’s a funny indication of just how well the Poly Performance lift does articulate:

When I installed my front shocks I decided to install the included shock boots on the front shocks. I had them nice and firmly zip-tied on and they weren’t going anywhere. At one point on the trail I hopped out to spot a friend over an obstacle and when I came back I found this:

Plucked off Shock Boot

The front suspension had flexed enough that it had pulled the shock boot clean off the shock body. Now mind you, these are long shock boots. It didn’t matter. They were plucked clean off. When I go to re-check my torques these will be coming off. It’s not like they’re doing much anyway.

I used to think this trail was challenging and tough; a fair and honest medium-hard trail. I’m not going to say the trail has become “easy” because it hasn’t. The friend who went with me on this run had no issues last year but found it much more challenging this time around. All that said, the new capabilities of my Poly Performance enhanced JK is going to have me reconsidering just what is a medium-hard trail, at least for me. The lift took everything I threw at it and just laughed.

To sum everything up, the Poly Performance Synergy Stage III lift so far has met all the criteria I set out for it. It’s safe with excellent engineering in all its parts. Its street performance has been excellent excepting the firm ride of the Synergy shocks. There is no question about handling and although the ride isn’t plush, it would have been if I had sprung for the Fox CD adjuster shocks. Dependability wise, the Synergy kit has been excellent, and besides occasional checking for torque and routine maintenance, this kit has been trouble free. Since I’ve installed this kit I’ve traveled many thousands of trouble free miles and wheeled much harder terrain than written about here. The Poly Performance Synergy III has met and exceeded all my expectations, every time.

As for the mother-in-law not being able to get in… Well, I had a wee bit of difficulty with that one as she somehow managed to get herself up and into the JK. So to fix that issue I installed the 4.5” springs. Problem solved!

So, would I recommend this lift? Without hesitation: YES!

Contact
Poly Performance
245 Tank Farm Rd.
Units L & M
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
Ph: (805) 783-2060
Fx: (805) 783-2069
www.polyperformance.com