Although you may want to avoid using bones, what you are describing is best accomplished using bones and creating an armature.  You don't need to have the object as one single mesh and there is no need to weight paint because in the end all you are doing is parenting the body parts to the armature bones.  The advantage of doing it this way is that the joint hierarchy is clear and the joint pivot points are easier to manage.

This video should help you out as a starting point.  Just follow the principles in the video to expand the number of bones and joints you need.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9iL1hmJXrI

PS.  Just a friendly hint, there is no need to quote the previous post each time you reply as it just makes for alot of scrolling.  Just quote specific bits if it is necessary to quote at all.

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