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Don't put a jack stand under the LCA or knuckle. Both will be able to move and to tilt. I can't imagine a more dangerous way to support the car for this job. I put a jack stand under the "frame" so the car is securely supported, then use a bottle jack under the knuckle or LCA to raise it the inch or two as needed to ease the job.
The internal stops in the shocks are sufficient to prevent the spring from hyperextending, but parts fail, and that'd be a pretty nasty failure to be surprised by, so don't assume it'll just work.
I can't do the hammer thing to pop a ball joint for my life, and I never did much like the forks, so I got one of those ball joint poppers from NAPA. It squeezes on the ends of the threads of that ball joint, so back that nut off just far enough to prevent the tool from mushrooming those threads (makes nut easier to remove after popping joint), but not so far that it'll pop off and go flying when the joint separates (just in case).
From the factory, the Mercedes engineers decided it would be a good idea to install one of the bolts that hold the UCA to the car backwards, so as to make the job as hard as possible. If you're unlucky, you'll have to pull other, unrelated parts (brake booster?) to remove the bolt. If you have to do that, please reinstall the bolt the correct way for your own future sanity. More than likely, some previous sane mechanic has already done this for you.
When installing the UCA, I find that raising the knuckle a bit to put upward pressure on the UCA ball stud helps add enough friction to get the nut on without spinning the ball.
To avoid pre-stressing the rubber UCA bushing, don't fully torque that bolt until after you've dropped the car back onto the ground and bounced the bumper a few times.
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