This study examines the mechanical systems with an arbitrary number of passive (non-actuated) degrees of freedom and proposes an analytical method for computing coefficients of a linear controlled system, solutions of which approximate dynamics transverse to a feasible motion. This constructive procedure is based on a particular choice of coordinates and allows explicit introduction of a moving Poincare section associated with a nontrivial finite-time or periodic motion. In these coordinates, transverse dynamics admits analytical linearization before any control design. If the forced motion of an underactuated mechanical system is periodic, then this linearization is an indispensable and constructive tool for stabilizing the cycle and for analyzing its orbital (in) stability. The technique is illustrated with two challenging examples. The first one is stabilization of a circular motions of a spherical pendulum on a puck around its upright equilibrium. The other one is creating stable synchronous oscillations of an arbitrary number of planar pendula on carts around their unstable equilibria.