I'm at the point of a strut replacement where I'm re-installing the assembly.
The trouble is, it's too tall to fit between the top of the wheel arch and the
control arm. It's a little more than an inch too tall.

I see in several videos that the mechanic just pushes the wheel/axle assembly
down until the bottom of the strut clears the control arm. In fact, the Pelican
instructions mention that you have to *raise* the wheel assembly to reach the strut bottom.

But on mine, the wheel/axle assembly hits a "stop" - it actually "clangs" - at
the bottom of its travel. The only thing that could be stopping it is the ball
joint boomerang shaped thing. Everything else is quite loose.

I have *not* disconnected the tie rod or outer ball joint because the inner CV
boot has disintegrated. I'm concerned that the whole thing would fall out, and
put stress on the tie rod, power steering system or brake or other lines.
However, I haven't seen a video touch these connections, so I assume it's
possible to replace the strut without them.

My plan is to use a floor jack (yet to be purchased) to compress the strut up
into the wheel arch enough to get it over the lip of the control arm. I'm
crossing my fingers here.

Thoughts? It would be nice to do this without the jack, which I'm not sure
would even work.

 

You are one the right path with the jack. You will need a piece of a 2x4 that is long enough to fit one end under the flange that the spring rests on. The other end of the 2x4 rests on the jack. I use some Garrilla tape around the strut and 2x4 to keep it all in place. Just jack up on the 2x4 until you can assemble the steering knuckle on to the strut. Don't try to lower the strut to do this. Just lift the knuckle. It should all slide together
Hope this helps.