Gorilla Mounting, Motor Orientation

[Don Middleton]

Hi SMC. I'm a relative newcomer to this community, and have been enjoying the content as well as the hospitality here. I'm working to put together a little woodshop in my 2-car garage right now, and have just taken shipment on a new 2HP Gorilla. I'm trying to tuck this beast into a fairly tight space: up against a wall, with the motor just sneaking up behind a garage-door track. At best it's going to be really tight, and the orientation of the motor could determine whether or not it'll fit at all (protrusions in two quadrants of the motor cylinder profile, including the electrical box).

Anyone know if the motor orientation relative to the blower housing can be easily changed? I haven't removed the impeller to look underneath; figured I'd inquire first and see if anyone else here had knowledge of this.

Cheers - Don

[Jim Becker]

I think this is best answered by Oneida, but I suspect the rotational options of the motor are limited, depending on how it's mounted specifically. I can't look at mine...the motor is up between the joists.

BTW, Welcome to SMC, Don! A nice place to hang out...

[Don Middleton]

I think this is best answered by Oneida, but I suspect the rotational options of the motor are limited, depending on how it's mounted specifically. I can't look at mine...the motor is up between the joists.

BTW, Welcome to SMC, Don! A nice place to hang out...

Thanks for the response and the welcome, Jim. This really is a great forum and I do look forward to hanging out here more (as opposed to lurking about ;-).

I did some more research here and on Bill Pentz's (remarkable) site and it does look likely that the motor mounting bolts are arranged symmetrically, which would allow the motor to be rotated on the top plate in order to keep the electrical box from hitting my garage door track. But Bill pointed out that if you remove the impeller, you must replace some star-headed allen screws. Not sure I want to tangle with that on Labor Day, when McGuckins (our local Great Hardware Store) is closed for the holiday.

Anyway, it might just barely fit as is - so this morning will be the first mounting attempt. Onward!

[Jim Becker]

Don, mount the unit as close to the wall as you can...not on the end of the brackets. Don't worry about where the holes are, either...it's easy to drill new ones for the bolts. This may give you the additional room you need to put the thing up where you want to do it and will also reduce or eliminate any tendancy of the brackest to sag from the weight. The brackets supplied with the Gorrilla are not quite as strong as those supplied with the 2hp Commercial (which is identical other than the motor and color).

[Don Middleton]

Don, mount the unit as close to the wall as you can...not on the end of the brackets. Don't worry about where the holes are, either...it's easy to drill new ones for the bolts. This may give you the additional room you need to put the thing up where you want to do it and will also reduce or eliminate any tendancy of the brackest to sag from the weight. The brackets supplied with the Gorrilla are not quite as strong as those supplied with the 2hp Commercial (which is identical other than the motor and color).

Jim, thanks for the advice on this! The Gorilla is up. As it turns out, if you're trying to mount the Gorilla on the stock brackets, and with the exhaust/filter exiting parallel to the wall, the seemingly far-out drilling of the brackets turns out to be correct. The position of the bracket's welded brace interferes with the exhaust port if the unit is mounted any closer to the wall than the pre-drilled location. Taking your advice, I redrilled a bit and had to angle the port some, which worked fine in my location.

I mounted the blower housing on a plywood/framing structure on the ground, and then a friend and I simply hoisted it up onto the wall and it was up. Took about a minute and was quite a bit easier than I'd imagined.

cheers - don