With a vertical, or sometimes called a flange-mounted motor, the hold-down bolts are near the drive end of the unit and will usually be mounted with the coupling end oriented downward.

Conversely, with a gearbox that has a vertically oriented power shaft, the mounting bolts will typically be at the very bottom of the unit with the power shaft coupling end oriented upward. However, out of at least two paths of logic that can lead to an alignment route I prefer the more easily understood see-saw theory.

Think about it A vertical mounted gearbox is, in essence, an upside-down version of a vertical mounted motor. Bolt patterns will occasionally stray from the norm, but if you will consider the bottom of the gearbox directly beneath the axis of the power shaft from two views 90 apart, then you have a heavy duty see-saw which can be maneuvered into alignment with mathematics and pry-bars in less time than you may expect.

Or, you may get a better grip on the theory by visualizing a four-spoke wagon wheel with two of the four spokes 180 apart at a horizontal and the (power shaft) third of four spokes standing vertical. As shim activity occurs along the metaphoric horizontal wagon wheel spokes at the base of the gearbox with a point directly below the center of the power shaft being the hub center, ^[*] the vertical spoke (power shaft) will sway (east or west in this case) depending on the plus or...