I just used a needle nose pliers (machine powered off by the way) on the really hard to remove 555 LED posts. Most though came out very easy for me. There were only a handful that were impossible to unscrew by hand.
And yes, there are flashers everywhere. I haven't converted though to LED yet. There are two different sizes. Does anyone know the technical names for them? I need to order them soon. The smaller of the two flashers has the same bayonet size as the normal bulbs, but the ones on the playfield have a larger diameter.