I purchased the Synergy Drag link and tie rod as a combo from a local shop about 100k ago. They had a jeep event on a Saturday and ran a special for it with free installation. I always thought it was weird that my drag link would sometimes hit the tie rod. Recently I had to get some warranty work done from the dealership and my steering wheel was off center. After watching some videos, I decided to adjust myself. I just loosened the bolt on the sleeve and spun the larger nut a half turn and the steering wheel was center. When I looked at the drag link, my adjustment seems to be flipped. Instead of it being up towards the pitman arm on the drivers side, its reversed and down on the passenger side knuckle.

1. Did I make the adjustment correctly,

or does this have to be removed from the vehicle?
2. Did the shop install the drag link incorrectly all of those years ago and its facing the wrong way?

 

There should be a sleeve near the pitman arm to adjust. You shouldn’t need to adjust it near the knuckle.

 

that is the correct orientation. Odd....I think along the way they moved to a simple jam nut at that end and did away with the pinch bolt. Like Sv_dude said, there should be an adjustment barrel on the other end by the pitman arm. Given how that sucker looks, I bet it's no longer a super smooth adjustment with their fancy double-barrel system. What does your other end look like?

 

Thanks everyone. Here is the other end. It doesn't look AS adjustable to me unless I am missing something. Every Youtube video and even the instructions from Synergy show the Drag Link in the other position with the adjustment up by the Pitman Arm. Mine is reversed? Maybe because my lift isn't tall enough to justify it facing the other way? Let me know if anyone thinks I should pull it off and reverse it. It does bang against the tie rod sometimes on heavy hits.

 

Looking closer at those previous pictures, that is the double-barrel adjustment there at the knuckle side. When I was glancing at it before that just looked like a big jam nut that was backed off. Sorry for the confusion. That is installed in the proper orientation with the bend at the knuckle end. I wouldn't worry about that. I can only guess that is a pretty old unit and before a re-design in which they moved that adjustment to the other end. The adjustment needs to be at the end that has the pinch bolt so it's correct.....just different than all the current instructions you're seeing. It will still adjust nonetheless.

**as far as the DL hitting the TR, it just needs to be adjusted a bit so that at full "flop", the DL joint doesn't allow the bar to flop that far forward. IE, loosen the pinch bolt, hold that TRE twisted in the full forward position, and then lift the bar upwards so you have clearance (given how old it you might need to twist the adjustment barrel to allow the bar to come up as it might not just lift up by hand). From that point when you adjust it, you just need to make sure you're keeping the bar and the joint in the same general orientation and that it is only the barrel moving in/out to make the adjustment.....if any of that makes sense. My point is you can achieve clearance with proper adjustment.

^^^This actually could have been the reason they moved that adjustment to the other end with a redesign. It's not that it can't be installed and adjusted properly, it's just that it's more difficult than it needs to be.

 

Thanks ReSharp. I will try a final adjustment and see if I can get it proper. If you remember, I got a clock spring replaced and my steering wheel somehow came back slightly crooked. Dealer said that the drag link wasn't adjustable, and I knew they were full of it. They even said they had two "master techs" check it, and it couldn't be adjusted and that I needed an alignment. So I handled it myself and noticed the issue of drag link possibly being backwards.
I just got back from a baja trip and I promise I will clean all the grease on the boots lol I had to hit them up quick before i left.