I have a MR3020 router that I want to tap as many GPIO's as I can and pass them outside of the router to be used for other things. My question is would I need to remove the led from the board before I can use the GPIO?

For example on the MR3020 the WLAN Led (Led 4) is on GPIO 0 connected thru Resistor R85. Could I leave the resistor/led alone and just tap off the GPIO location and read if the led is on or off from the outside world? ... or could I apply voltage from the outside world to the GPIO location (lighting the led) and also reading it's status from the router?

I have found at least one referance to someone else tapping an led gpio and leaving the led untouched. Posting

can anyone confirm that this can be done?

A picture is worth a thousand words ... Can this be done or do I need to remove R83 & R85

In general, this should be possible without removing the resistor. But be sure, that you don't draw too much current (2 LEDs at the same time could be too much).