Bad diverter in a discontinued faucet

I have a Concinnity faucet in my kitchen sink that has a bad diverter. When I press the sprayer, about half the water still comes out the faucet. I've taken the obvious parts apart and cleaned them, so I know this is not due to a bad flow restrictor or calcium in the sprayer.

I've searched all around and actually found somebody with old parts including a diverter. But the guy at that plumbing place a thousand miles from me was kind enough to suggest I first try getting the old one to work -- decalcifying, etc. Okay, I'm game. Trouble is - I can't figure out how to get the diverter out. I have a schematic of the faucet, and it looks like the diverter is the metal piece just inside the pipe the spout screws into. My schematic indicates some O-rings which I don't see. Are these actually lock rings and are holding the assembly in place? Boy, if so it's going to be chore trying to figure out how to compress them to get them out with damage.

I've tried wiggling the diverter out with needle nose pliers and a screwdriver, but it won't budge. I really don't want to break/bend this thing. Do I have to remove the base and loosen the mounting ass'y from below? I'm hoping not. I could live with this problem rather than tear the whole thing out of a rather complex installation. Any suggestions?

By the way, the thing I'm thinking is the diverter appears to be brass, has two holes of different sizes and what looks like a third hole further down that partially occludes the bigger hole when you look down on it.

Thanks....

No replies - how depressing!

Well, maybe I can just get someone to direct me to a link that instructs one on how to get a diverter out of the faucet pipe. That would help....

I can't see your faucet from here. Or, I'd tell you what to do.

For some reason Concinnity;s website seems to be down since they went out of business.

If you can post the parts diagram I might be able to tell you what to do.