Many in our hobby have experienced the dilemma of having to choose between an MT14 with it's large cabin capable of carrying four passengers or lots of luggage and the smaller two passenger MT19 with its spring suspension system. The tradeoff is the smooth MT19 ride compared to the very rough MT14 which allows occupants to "feel" every rail joint. The reason for this is the MT14's lack of a suspension system.

We had previously developed an air ride system that worked very well, however it was expensive to produce and could not be easily installed in the field. We have replaced the air ride suspension with this replica of the little known spring suspension system for the MT14. This system provides an even better ride than the air suspension system.

M14's produced in the Australian plant were equipped with a spring suspension system that was very similar to the M19/MT19 suspension system used in U.S. manufactured motorcars. The M14 and M19 spring suspension system were designed at about the same time. The reason why the spring ride was never offered outside of Australia is probably lost in history. One or two examples of the Australian spring suspension have found their way to the U.S. and have been installed on NARCOA cars with good results.

We obtained an Australian spring suspension system, from Mark "Stew" Swaby of Melbourne, Australia as well as the original drawings and have used these to fabricate patterns to cast new production parts that will allow us to offer an equivalent retrofit kit for 14 series cars. The kit will also work on S2's.

The photo on the left clearly illustrates the center bearing installation and shows the similarity to the MT19 setup. Note how the center bearing is suspended from the rear side of the axle. This was also done in late production MT19's in an apparent effort to make the rear axle more reliable.

We have completed our testing of the suspension system and are very pleased with the results. We find the ride to be as smooth as the MT19 ride. During the fall of 2003 we put nearly 1000 miles on our MT14 equipped with the spring suspension system. The tests included the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad in North Carolina with its steep grades and tight turns as well as Mexico's Copper Canyon where we were able to run at high speed for long distances.

The kit provides four wheel bearing assemblies including guide tubes, guide tube bushings, springs, the center axle bearing and attachment bracket. We include a steel template with locating dowels to allow the installer to accurately drill new holes using the existing holes as locating points as well as all hardware needed to complete the installation. The kit will raise the height of the car 1 3/4".

The kit requires the removal and reuse of the bearings and races currently installed in the car. It is likely that some of these may require replacement since they may be excessively worn from many years of use. We will removal your old bearings from your original bearing blocks, install them and properly shim them in the new bearing blocks at no charge. If any of the bearings are unserviceable, they of course, will be replaced with new ones at a nominal charge. All new bearing blocks include a new inner race. Alternatively, we offer the kit with all new bearings and races. We will install the kit on your car at our location in Ohio.

MT19's have had a very high rear axle failure rate. The problem appears to have been aggravated by the suspension system allowing the axle to flex. Once this system is installed on the heavier MT14, even though it has a thicker axle, the problem may occur. For this reason we recommend installation of our Rychrome keyless rear axle and U.S. Tsubaki keyless sprocket which have been failure free to date in all MT19's in which they have been installed.

Illustrated at left are the major components of the kit which are from the left, clockwise, the spring and bearing block assembly which is installed in a cast "box"

Here are the assembled components. Note the drilling template bolted to the top of the assembly.

The template actually makes it quite easy to do the installation accurately without having to bring the car to our shop in North Lawrence, Ohio. If you prefer, we will be glad to do the installation if you will be in the area with your car.

The installation can normally be completed in one day. You must make an appointment so we can be sure to have the parts and man power ready for your arrival.

The center bearing attachment bracket and rear axle center bearing are illustrated on the left. These are also very similar, although somewhat larger than that used in the M19/MT19. The cover has been removed to show the bearing bore. The inner race will be included in all five bearing blocks at no additional charge.