I'm Jeff, I'm 36, married 7 years, no kids. My background is different than most as I grew in in the city and halfway through my young life moved to the country. I grew up learning how to fix things out of necessity since my dad was self employed. I am a pretty quiet guy. I have a pretty strong opinion on certain things. I went to college at the University of Nebraska for 2 years and finally decided couldn't really get the degree I wanted without moving to Michigan. So as a compromise I went to Southeast Community College and graduated from the GM ASEP program with honors. Got my ASE master certification which I've held for 15 years. After that I put in a couple years as a technician for GM, went to Ford for a short time as well. This is where I started to see the beauty of diesels. I almost took a job teaching automotive and light duty diesel at WyoTech in Laramie, Wyoming in 2004 but, I couldn't make the relocation aspect work. I worked for the BNSF railway as a journeyman locomotive diesel mechanic "machinist in union terms" for a while this spring. I really liked the job and regret I couldn't make it work but, I resigned to find a job that allowed me to have a life after only 2 months there. I mainly worked with GE 4400HP V12 evolution 4 stroke locomotives but, did some work with the old reliable GM built EMD 2 stroke 2900-4400HP V16s. I still would like to teach automotive / diesel technology somewhere but, can't really find my way into a job like that here. So, I guess I am at an impasse in my career.
I do most of the work on the puller in a 2 car garage, most of the machines and tools I have are older than dirt. I acquired most of the tools I have broken and then fixed them. Machine tools are high dollar toys in the midwest. I have worked on alot of old iron, I once brought a 31 cadillac V12 back to life after a 30 year slumber. I love old american iron, have had alot of GM big block powered cars and trucks, I currently have (2) 81-87 chevy K30s and this old dodge diesel.