Abstract: A hydraulic press having upper and lower hydraulically operated plates whereby the upper plate is movable with a long stroke cylinder and the lower plate is movable wth a short stroke cylinder. The press has a grooved load bearing rod which is attached to the upper moving plate and passes through the upper fixed plate of the press with a series of slots machined in the rod. A split ring and an especially ground shim are located on a bushing in the upper plate and in one of the ground grooves. A locking plate is attached to the lower part of the upper fixed plate and using a hydraulically operated cylinder has locking plates which move into and out of engagement with the grooved rod to accurately locate the position of the upper moving plate when the machine is stroked. This method of adjusting the horizontal position or parallelism of the plates enable very accurate positioning of the mold or dies which are mounted between the plates of the press.