I found this.
That's exactly what I needed to know. The dampener is just like a shock absorber, except it's for the steering wheel. Here's a drawing of the steering dampener and its location. It's the fifth one down.
But wait, is it spelled "dampener" or "dampner"? That might seem trivial, but it you use the first spelling for a search in TheSamba.com forums you get 100 matches, but if you use the second spelling you get 221 matches.
Neither spelling will help you buy the part from Wolfsburg West. They spell it "damper".
Spelling aside, most of the advice given on TheSamba states that replacing the steering dampener is a "band-aid" fix. People will tell you that if you're feeling shakes in the front end you've got bigger problems than the dampener, and your new dampener will only mask this larger problem until it wears out in six months.
Maybe that's true, but I ordered a new one anyway. John Muir was an aerospace engineer before he wrote his "Idiot" book, so I think I can risk testing out his theory. On Wednesday and Thursday night I sprayed the old dampener's nuts and bolts with Kroil penetrating oil and just let them soak. On Friday night the old dampener came out without much trouble at all.
The old one had no resistance left; I could move the bar back and forth as if it was a slide whistle. It looks like this is an original Volkswagen part. This thing could be over 50 years old.
The job was pretty straightforward. I didn't even have to put the car on jack stands.
The steering felt much better on the test drive, and I'm pleased about that. This might be a band-aid fix, but I have no doubt that the old dampener needed to be replaced.
The people who take the time to offer tips and advice on internet forums are an invaluable source of information, but sometimes you just gotta go your own way. More on that in part two.
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