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Remove what pins? You don't have to remove pins....unless you want to really detail strip parts. But that is not field-stripping; that is detail-stripping........and AKs can be field-stripped or detail-stripped too.

You push out (but do NOT remove) TWO large pins to separate the upper from the lower, but you don't need to separate them to clean the rifle if you don't want to.

Slide out the BCG, pull the firing pin retainer (looks like a cross-wise mounted little kotter-pin) to drop out the firing pin. Rotate and remove the camming pin. Pull the bolt out of the bolt carrier. I probably fired 2000-3000 rounds before I ever removed the extractor for the first time. And when I finally got around to it, guess what? Not really dirty under there. Bottom line is, you shouldn't even have to remove the extractor at all except to repair/replace it.

There simply isn't any reason to remove the trigger or hammer pins ever, unless you are replacing the trigger with an aftermarket unit, or you're going to modify the EOM unit. Just spray a little de-gunker of some kind on the parts to blast off the worst oily buildup, and drop a couple of drops of new lubricant on a couple of critical places. For the most part, the trigger and hammer system should run fairly dry. The oily buildup you're cleaning off mostly got there by dripping onto them from the upper receiver.

All those other little detentes, springs, and pins are designed to stay in the gun and never be removed! The ONLY time you would remove them is if you are installing a new upper or lower receiver half, and want to reuse your original small parts in the new receiver.

It sounds to me like you went in with the assumption that cleaning an AR was like taking apart a watch. It's not. It's like cleaning an AK.

Edited to add.....

Truthfully, the one area that an AK has an advantage over an AR is that it runs cleaner because of the gas piston instead of "pooping where it eats". But keeping an AR bolt clean just isn't that hard or big of a deal.