22011982

OK, some random number.

Not really.  That is the Chevy part number for the steering damper (helps reduce oscilations) for my RV.  The part was discontinued in 2007 and Chevy lists no replacement part number.

Actually, let me back up some.  We were going over some problems in the RV and the steering damper was one of them.  Since it is a critical component in maintaining the ability to control the beast when going down the highway, we figured we would replace it before the 11+ hour road trip to Ponca City for the NMA Nationals.

As I was taking the part ever so carefully from the vehicle, one of the mounting points managed to twist off.  OK, now its a must change situation, since the old one can’t go back on.  No biggie, it’s just a Chevy part.  Anybody will have it.

Right…

This brings us to the previously discussed point that the part is now discontinued.  Still, I didn’t figure it could be that big of a deal.  After all, they use this same part on like a million different vehicles (step vans, heavy duty trucks, etc).  I started looking for after-market replacements.

A/C Delco lists the part as 509-10, but they had ONE in California.

Moog has a SSD70 that should fit, if you want it shipped in next week.

Finally, I was able to find a Monro 555944 that seemed to be a suitable replacement that was also available locally.

Napa was able to get it to there store in the same day, so it was a simple job to get her bolted up and ready to test.  By the way, I’m just going to throw this quick tip in here.   Make sure that you put the steering damper back in its original mounting holes or you could have some steering limitation problems.  Once that problem was solved, everything seemed to be peachy keen!

I know that was kind of a rambling, seemingly pointless story.  The main thing that I wanted to convey was that if you need a replacement steering damper for Chevy part # 22011982, you can probably get a Monroe 555944 locally.  I know,  you shouldn’t need me to tell you this, but none of my local parts shops could figure out what a suitable replacement part was.