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Actually, when the most recent pics were taken, I had already removed the bolt that holds the control arm to the subframe. (Just loosening it really didn't seem to do much.)
On control arm terminology I sometimes get a little screwed up, so I guess I'll go with what Bentley says: "transverse" being the one that is perpendicular to the long axis of the car, ie the one with the ball joint at the bottom of the wheel carrier. "Diagonal" is the other, the one that bolts onto the center of the transverse.
I think you're right, Tom, I think it is the diagonal portion of the control arm that is holding things up. You both recommended I remove the bolt that holds the two parts together (ie "next to the nickel") and that makes sense to me. Insite, you recommended I do that BEFORE I separate the control arm from the subframe. I assume you mean before I remove the bolt holding the transverse control arm (not the diagonal) to the subframe, right? If so, as I indicated above, it's too late for that.
What's the problem that you run into doing it after instead of before? Is it just tougher to wrestle the two arms apart from each other? I could probably put the jack under the inner end (where the bolt has already come out) and lift it back up to approximately where it was.
If you're reading between the lines here you may have already accurately concluded I got NOTHING done on this today, other than reading your suggestions. It was a really tough, really long day at work---I got home just too bushed to even think about working in the garage. The fact that it was like 90 out didn't help matters...
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