I got really excellent results by doing the following:
Get a hot plate and set it for about 250 - 300 degrees and put the board a half-inch or so above it (if possible, use a thermocouple or similar to watch the board temperature if you don't want to damage it)..
Get a (standard off-the-shelf hardware store type) 250-watt IR heat lamp and holder, and shine it on the component(s) to be removed. After a few minutes, the part(s) can be easily removed.
Note that this isn't good if you just want to remove one thing, but it's great if you want to remove all of the parts.
HTH,
-Mike