I have had the same problem with some flashlights including the last one I did which was a steel sucker. Thin steel, but steel. The LED's were mounted on a PCB and seriously mounted inside the tube about an inch down. I could not get this out with all manner of hammering, pushing and pulling. Sometimes you gotta break out the metal bit and that's what I did. Metal Drill Bit blasted right
through it, then stubby needle nose through the hole, open them up and pulled it out. Still took effort but it came out. Maybe I'm just getting old.
BTW I had even more fun drilling a hole for the switch through the round steel tube being as my vice is dead.
