I'm going to take a wild guess... assume the damper is how you have that hex bolt at the bottom of the leg? This separates the leg from the tube, right? And this hex screws up the damper rod inside the bottom of that leg, yes? This might be the spring that slides up the damper?
It goes something like this: Oh look, my legs came and I am holding a clean one in hand right now. I lay it down so as not to nick any surface along that tube. I now pick up my damper rod and my little spring. I drop the spring down the damper rod, pick up the fork, drop the damper rod down the new fork tube. The rod flies out the hole and bounces off the spring.
Oh look, I forgot the spring washer or it eats at the rod and those touch points. Oh, no shit? Does not come with a washer? Then, that's the design of so many parts inside said fork assembly.
