I use 5.1 here, and there are some freebie scripts that let you save and load weights based on vertex positions, instead of just vertex IDs. Might help you. Kees Rijnen's Bio Skin (requires Editable Mesh base) http://www.keesrijnen.com/ Andre Hotz' Skin Or Die (requires Editable Poly base)…
I was going to say you might be able to use the "Extract Skin Data To Mesh" utility, but that's for Max 6. There are scripts that will save out skin data, but I don't know if they will work with your extreme example here. Did you plan on attaching all three meshes from the beginning, or was this something you thought you…