A forming machine (10) disclosed has an improved drive mechanism (28) for driving a pair of slides (20,22) mounted on upper and lower bases (12, 14) so as to provide forming of a workpiece for forming racks (24, 26) mounted on the slides. Upper and lower hydraulic motors (30,32) respectively drive the pair of slides whose movement is coordinated by a rotatable synchronizing gear (48) and upper and lower synchronizing racks (50,52). The synchronizing gear (48) is mounted by a connecting portion of the machine between the slides and is meshed with the synchronizing racks (50, 52) which are mounted on the slides by wedge adjusters (53) to adjust backlash of the synchronizing racks with the synchronizing gear. Both rotary and linear hydraulic motors for drivng the slides are disclosed. A pair of tie rod connections (150) preferably extend between the upper and lower bases to control deflection therebetween during the workpiece forming. Each tie rod connection (150) includes a sleeve (152) that is compressed and a tie rod (162 ) that extends through the sleeve and is tensioned in a preloaded manner to provide the prevention of deflection between the bases.