Time to pull head 240D

I have decided to pull the head and do a valve job after checking the glow plugs, adjusting the valves, removing one of the injector lines only to find fuel dripping out when I cranked the engine and heating the block with heat lamps, all of which started when my daughters 1979 240D would not start when the mercury dropped below 32 deg.
I was a little surprised after reading the Benz manual that I needed to remove the slide rail and tension rail for the timing chain before removing the head. I can’t imagine getting a slide hammer down in there to pull the bearing pins. I had hoped it would be like the old Datsun L motors where all you had to do is drive a wood wedge down into the block to jam the timing chain so it did not fall off the crankshaft sprocket, remove the cam sprocket and the heads was off.
Is it possible to pull the head without ether removing the engine or the radiator? Do I need to worry about the chain falling off the crank sprocket?