Cat 12 Sunshine

Even when things go south, you can find a little sunshine. I have an old Cat 12 #8T 12795SP that I use around the ranch to blade roads and do a little irrigation work.  I started it last week after it had set all winter, in preparation to road it home 5 miles to perform service and get ready to blade some of the ranch roads.  As I was turning it around in the pasture, the front axle (spindle) broke off and there I sit.  The sunshine is, I was just chugging along in second gear getting turned around, and not heading down the county road in sixth heading for home.
I have another parts blade to get a replacement spindle from, but I'm almost certain that the kingpins from these old girls has never been removed.  Anybody have any advise on how to proceed?  Kinda looks from the service manual that the kingpin maybe should come out from the top after removing the lock ring and maybe a disc?
Any thoughts would be welcome.