Patent ID: 7944079

Claim:
A method of assembling a gearbox handling assembly to facilitate removal of a gearbox from a wind turbine uptower from the wind turbine, the wind turbine including a rotor rotatably coupled to the gearbox with a rotor shaft, the gearbox and the rotor shaft supported from a support frame, said method comprising: coupling a support assembly between the gearbox and the support frame for supporting the gearbox from the support frame; and, coupling a positioning assembly to the support frame, the positioning assembly configured to contact the gearbox to move the gearbox between a first position wherein the gearbox is operatively coupled to the rotor shaft and a second position wherein the gearbox is operatively decoupled and spaced from the rotor shaft to facilitate removing the gearbox from the wind turbine without removing the rotor from the wind turbine.