ok...Isaac...I have good news and bad news... and BAD news.
bad news: You've ROYALLY F*'d the threading. so it's not coming out if I play by the rules.
REALLY bad news: I'm going to have to do some serious rebuilding. I'm going to have to cut out the module because no matter what I do, the ring won't budge about 3 turns up. the threading is SO bad it just wont move. I've cleaned out the threads and been working on it since about 10 min after my last post. even with the proper tools and a vice and pliers it will not move.
the module was shook loose also a bit in transit.
the good news: I can get it out. since the module was already a bit miffed in shipping I just seperated it cleanly to get a better look. I removed the optics as 1 piece so that the crystals wouldn't lose their alignment. This exposes the diode, which i just promptly removed and stored in a static bag with its indium foil. now that all the sensitive optics are out of the picture, I can get down and dirty with this B*ch. I'll cut the ring off since we don't care about the host, and then re-assemble the module. (which is pretty easy since its already aligned and spaced. I marked the orientation, so all I have to do is literally re-stack it, and then glue it so it stays.
You really got your hands full on this one :/ mine's also pretty messed, so I hope I can get the rings off mine so I can fix mine as well, (the IR filter was loose, I laid it in there for my other shot so it looked proper) Also, your collimating lens came out much easier than mine as it had far less epoxy