Misaligned Motor Mount: Uprading original 3/4 Hp Motor to 1 1/8 Hp Motor

[Jrh]

I am upgrading the original 3/4 Hp motor in my 1955 “Greenie” to the current 1 1/8 Hp motor that I purchased from Shopsmith.

I would appreciate help with an installation issue : Only three of the four holes in my motor cover align with the mounting points of the new motor. The mounting bracket attached to the rear of the new motor has two threaded screw holes, one near each end of the bracket. In my case, only one of the holes in the bracket can be aligned with one of the holes in my motor cover. The mounting bracket provides for some side to side adjustment but moving the bracket does not correct the problem. The front mounting points match perfectly, but only one of the rear matches. I do not want to omit a screw holding the motor.

The out of alignment is approximately 1/4” O.C. between the miss-matched hole in the motor cover and the threaded hole in the mounting bracket.

It seems likely to me that Shopsmith might encounter this problem when doing a motor upgrade for a customer. I have asked Shopsmith for a suggested solution and have not heard back. I have asked if there is an alternate bracket available that provides correct alignment. It seems to me that a motor that is a being sold as an upgrade should come with a mounting bracket designed to directly install. If no bracket is available, I've asked if they drill a new hole in the motor cover to align with the threaded hole in the bracket? I’d prefer to not drill an extra hole in my original Shopsmith motor cover. The bracket itself does not allow for drilling and threading a new appropriately located and threaded mounting hole. Other solutions??

I'd welcome any comments or suggestions.

Thank you very much,

Jim

[JPG]

Pictures would help.

Is it possible the rear bracket is bent?

[HopefulSSer]

I purchased one for my 1960 greenie. I had planned to self-install but ultimately the guy I got it from installed it while I watched him do it. As I recall he had no alignment issues and didn't have to change brackets, bend anything, or make new holes. So it sounds like something screwy (no pun intended!) is going on with yours. Pics will definitely help

[edma194]

If the holes are misaligned then you have to be concerned that the pulley ends up misaligned also. It has to be position properly under the upper pulley so the belt doesn't skew in the full range of the movable sheaves.

I don't know what the cause of this issue might be but I don't see an issue with drilling 2 new holes in the motor pan if that will resolve it.

[Jrh]

This is a final update on my Misaligned Motor Mount post: I emailed Shopsmith Customer Service describing my issue and their Engineer sent a replacement motor bracket. The bracket looked identical to the original which did not align with the holes in my motor housing. Laying the new bracket in my housing immediately showed it was bent differently and was a perfect match to align the motor mounts of the new motor with the original mounting holes. A note accompanying the bracket recommended slightly enlarging the original holes with a 5/16" drill to improve flexibility in getting things aligned.

Thanks to those of you that responded. I hope this helps someone else.

Jim

[chapmanruss]

Jim,

Thank you for posting how you were able to resolve your issue. I have to wonder if the new (to you) motor was dropped at some point bending the bracket. Although I have not had this problem with any of the Mark 5/V's I have owned or restored (and the reason I did not post previously) it is something to keep in mind should a misalignment occur. It may indeed be helpful to someone at some point.