Bought a stainless hex head bolt the same length as the one specified with the Matco axle kit and drilled the nose gear to accept the bolt.
The bolt head was not quite as tall as the thickness of the nose gear bracket and because we needed to keep a decent amount of material left on the bracket I ground down the bolt head.
The two make a nice flush fit.
The wheel pant bracket will keep the bolt retained but I’ll still add some locktite.