newkid,
I feel your pain. I worked and worked trying to get mine out of my 300SD and failed. I had lots of expert advice and felt like I just was too dense to get it. Soooooooo I took her to the dealer and low and behold the first certified mechanic could not get it out and he had to go and get the "master". He was in there about 10 seconds and out it came.
Keep trying, I really think it is a matter of getting everything in the right place and sequence and applying enough pressure
good luck