Adjustable strut rods alignment question 74 Dart

I'm installing QA1 adjustable strut rods on my 75 Duster and have questions (stupid ones).
Everyone says "adjust it so you can move through the entire path of travel with no binding." I removed my sway-bar, shocks, tie rod ends and cut my strut bars. Passenger LCA moves easily fore/aft and I can see some slop near the pivot. Driver LCA is tight, even with everything removed. Both are difficult to move up and down by hand. Do I need to loosen the ULA bolts to check this?
Background: just changed ball joints, UCA and LCA rubber bushings, new .980(?) sway bars, tie rods and the car wanders horribly at highway speed. I had, in the distant past, modified a strut rod with threads and jam nuts to be adjustable and it was stable on the highway before. The LCA pivot on that side had wollowed out it's hole and I welded a repair plate to fix it, the location of which was questionable.