A pickle fork probably isn't the tool of choice. See if you can rent a ball joint press or a tool similar to what's shown in the manual (c'mon, it's not that bad). Autozone might have the tool you need and they lend tools for free.

The idler bushing job will be messy if you have to drop the exhaust system for access. Much worse if you have pre cats.

Refitting is easy - it just bolts together without a press. Try to get the critical dimensions close to what they are now so it's a minimally unsafe ride to the alignment shop.

I couldn't get the components apart so I pulled the tie rod mounts off the knuckles (this was on a W126, I don't know if you can do this in a W124) along with the pitman arm and idler arm and took it to a machine shop to be taken apart.

Sixto
95 S420
91 300SE
87 300SDL
83 300SD