Steering Damper

[Peter C. King]

 

I can hear everybody asking themselves, “Steering Damper? Whazzat?”

If you don’t know what it is, you need to look at your front suspension. Do you ever feel a shimmy as you drive down the road? It’s inherent in the front end geometry of VWs. 

To counteract the lack of natural damping, VW used a double acting shock absorber called a “Steering Damper”. They are model specific for Type 1, 2, 3, 4. The head that attaches to the tie rods is different for each Type. You can’t substitute one for the other.

The damper is located between the I beam and the tie rods. The head end is attached to the fitting that connects the tie rods to the steering swing arm. The other end connects to a fitting on the bottom of the I beam.  

How do you test it? You could jack up the front end and see if the wheels have any resistance to being turned from one side to the other.

A more reliable way is to disconnect the head from the tie rod. That takes any other friction in the steering system out of the equation. If the piston rod moves in and out like the slide on a Soosaphone you have a dead damper. If there is a dead spot as you change directions the damper is failing. If it feels like pushing a spoon into Yogurt you have a good damper.

 

$33.99 at Autozone.

Would you believe that my sailplane uses a Type III steering damper on the rudder? It’s there to stop flutter; the flying equivalent of shimmy. Flutter has been known to take the tail off in flight. You want a good rudder damper in a plane. Cars too. They don’t steer too well when the front wheels are flopping back and forth  

 

 

 

 

 

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