Yes Ls, I'm definately stoked on doing the maintenance myself. I take my time and get it right and while I'm underneath the vehicle I usually conduct an inspection while I'm down there. I hope you can find a shop in the civilian community that will give you the oppurtunity to use their lifts. Ofcourse factoring liability concerns, I don't know if that will be feasible. The shop I use on the base, we have 3 lifts for lubricants(built-in drain pans underneath), 8 overhaul stalls, and 10 other stalls with combination lifts and stalls that you have to use jackstands with. There is also a welding shop. This is actually a smallish shop. When I was stationed in San Diego, the shop there had about 50 stalls, being that the weather there was so good, there were several outside. If I'm not mistaken, they even had a spray booth.