gsquare,
First, welcome to the forum. Glad to see you read thru the maintenance threads. It makes disassembly / assembly much easier. Getting the recoil spring assembly in was definitely the toughest step for me to master. Grabbing the spring cap and recoil rod with channel locks didn't appeal to me much. After a couple of busted fingernails I finally took a hunk of hard plastic (the end of an old brush) about 0.25" thick, and filed a notch a little wider than the diameter of the guide rod in the end. Instant recoil rod installation tool.
With a 50 to 80 round maintenance recommendation, you'll get really good at breakdown / assembly of the pup.
I think the Ruger Mark I - II - III .22 semi-auto pistol is the most challenging pistol to reassemble I've ever had. After five years I can finally field strip and reassemble it in a few seconds, but the local gunsmith tells me he still gets several Rugers a month in paper bags to reassemble.
Regards,
Steve