What practice is essential to ensure mounting and alignment are correct during preventive maintenance?

• A. Confirm mounting and alignment.
• B. Ignore alignment if vibration is acceptable.
• C. Visual inspection only.
• D. Replace components before inspection.

Answer: (A)

Verifying mounting and alignment is essential because parts must sit true and be fastened to specification to prevent uneven loads, excessive wear, and premature failure. When mounting isn’t correct, shafts, bearings, seals, and couplings can run out of true alignment, causing vibration, overheating, and increased wear that shortens component life and can lead to unexpected downtime. In preventive maintenance, you confirm that mounting surfaces are clean and true, fasteners are torqued to spec, and reference marks or alignment targets line up. You use appropriate measurement tools—such as runout gauges, dial indicators, or laser alignment devices—to verify shaft alignment and perpendicularity, then recheck after tightening or adjustments. If you ignore alignment because vibration seems acceptable, small misalignments can grow and cause damage before notable vibration appears. Visual inspection alone is not enough, since many misalignments aren’t visible and require measurement. Replacing components before inspecting wastes time and may miss the actual root cause; inspection first ensures you address the real issue and whether replacement is necessary.