I have NO idea if it will be of any use, but you might look at PoseRay, which has LightWave import and can export to .obj. If nothing obvious jumps out, you could contact the developer, FlyerX and he might have some advice. The only thing I've done in this regard is using PoseRay to load multi-part LW models (multiple .lwo) and save them as a single .obj mesh for Poaser or other apps.

"Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance." - H. L. Mencken