Singer 9800 series top vertical shaft gear replacement?

My Singer 9800 has its top vertical shaft bevel gear broken. Is it correct that in order to replace this top vertical gear, I need to remove the horizontal shaft/gear first?

I've managed to loosen the set screw for the broken vertical gear, through the opening for the stitch length control dial/assembly. After removing belt pulley and feed cam disks from the bottom, I cannot pull the vertical shaft downward to dislodge the broken top gear. This seems to be validated by the 2800 series (similar to 9800) service manual, which I found online. That service manual suggests to pull the vertical shaft upward to remove it.

However, I wonder if there is a way to avoid removing the horizontal shaft to replace the top vertical gear.

Jamie
August 2015