I don't want to waste anybody's time with this, so I should mention that I just decided to try plan C.. Rather than use the old beat up Suntour Ar, I snagged a shimano Altus long cage off of my wife's lightly used 90's Specialized. hardrock and I am going to try that with the Suntour Perfect freewheel. If it is working good, I'll go ahead and order a new deore derailleur for my bike and put my wife's back.
Thanks for reading this.