Mid-Travel: Too much caster?

Your assertions are not correct. This is simple math and the forces are not exponential forming a bell shaped curve. They are linear. There is no such thing as a dead zone. The more caster, the heavier the steering. The less caster, the lighter the steering and the increased tendency to wander.

 

Increased caster decreases steering response, especially in low speed situations. It also can cause pulling on high camber roads (road crown) or even on roads with depressions from road traffic. It also causes a jacking affect when turning from lock to lock, which can cause instability when cornering. I assume that the "deadzone" is actually the lack of steering responsiveness that comes from more caster. My experience with 4.5* caster was that my wheel did not return to center on it's own after making a turn so I had to manually correct the steering a little to begin the return to center. Decreasing the caster fixed this.

 

Call it what you want, and get into the physicals of it all but I am simply stating that in my experience too much caster is a bad thing. I can rotate my steering wheel 15 degrees in either direction from center without my truck changing direction. It also pulls on road grooves and depressions, and is impacted by wind forces from the side. Lots of input needed to correct the trajectory.

 

15 degrees?! Are you exaggerating? If not, it sounds like you have a much more serious problem than too much caster. I have 4.75*/4.81* caster (according to my last alignment sheet) and my truck drives fine. What you describe sounds like excessive play in the steering box and/or suspension joints. I have had some jalopies with that the handling problems you describe.

 

I haven't exactly measured the amount I can turn the steering wheel prior to turning the wheels, but it definitely feels like 15 degrees. I doubt I have any issue outside of high caster, plus, reducing caster seems the best course of action.

 

I think you are confusing steering response with effort to engage a response. You turn the same however much you increased caster, the effort to initiate the turn is higher. Using the wheel barrow analogy, when you move the weight back, it is heavier. This means you need more force to initiate the turn. You may have become accustom to the lighter steering, but caster does not delay a response. Your time in the gym or the pressure of your power steering is what make the difference. My M3 had over 7 degrees of caster. Using the thought that increased caster decreases responsiveness, those cars should never turn and turn circles forever. Neither of those conditions occur.

 

I'm not confusing anything. I'm saying someone else might interpret it that way though via the "heavy" steering feel you get when you turn a vehicle with more caster. Furthermore, camber changes more when turning the steering wheel, with more caster in our trucks, which is the contributing factor to the heavy feel and lack of responsiveness. It is what is is dude. How people interpret it whether they are strong, weak or have higher pressures in their hydraulic power steering is irrelevant to me