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Without seeing the vehicle in question, no idea if you're going to need a mechanic right away for it or not. Most of us end up doing our own wrenching, and own other vehicles as well. A lot of the parts on these are not on the shelf at your local auto parts store, so depending on what breaks it might be days or weeks to get in a replacement part. You also need to be careful as Chinese parts have been flooding the market the past couple years, and the quality on them is terrible.
the "fall apart on 90" comment is most likely attributed to the fact that these were not designed to operate at highway speeds. 50-55 is considered max speed without some additional work and a 4 speed transmission in them. Tires aren't particularly well balanced by the military as they don't have to hit high speeds where it's a major issue. Plus, if it's been sitting for a while they are very likely to be out of round at this point. Those factors lead to a lot of vibration at highway speeds, and these tires weigh twice or more what some civi tires do, plus being large, that means there can be a LOT of vibration, literally shaking the truck apart.
You're looking minimum of 2 months if you are lucky, 3-5 months is more realistic, if everything goes well.
Looking at a few other threads, some people have had trouble licensing in Louisiana, and the "off road only" stamp on the SF97 is only going to make that more difficult.
As much as I love to see people getting into these vehicles, from the sound of the situation you are in, a HMMWV might not be the best fit for you right now. Too much going on, too many conditions between you and your wife, and so on.
These don't make good primary vehicles for most, unless you are a very competent mechanic, able to read the manuals, and have a good stock of repair parts on hand. In the military these things have a huge support network behind them, get a complete going over every 10 years by an independent facility that specializes in it, and have people who do nothing but make sure they are taken care of. They get inspected weekly by their operators, plus every time they are driven. Many shops won't even look at them because they are military, and many that do will charge accordingly.
If you're buying surplus Army, then it's likely a 20-30 year old machine. They're stored outside in every type of weather, and driven by teenagers that don't have to pay for the repairs when they break them. Operated in harsh conditions, and just generally treated like crap.
