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There may be more to it than this. Without the tensioner and arm to hold the chain in place the cam can go back and forth in relation to the crank (and pistons, of course). It is my understanding that there is very, very little tolerance between the valve and piston during a rotation under NORMAL conditions when the chain is tight from the tensioner being in place pushing on the arm, etc. I don't think MB would have mentioned this in the manual for the heck of it, to give the mechanic something to do. It takes very little to bend a valve enough to cause it not to seal or to very prematurely wear out the guide (tolerances in this area are very, very tight).
My $0.02, this is extremely easy to do with the proper tool, it makes the rest of the job easier and less risky, and the only way to screw this up would be to put the followers back in different places than where they came from (easily avoided with an egg carton).
You will probably be lucky, but I know I have bad luck, I don't have a lot of experience doing this (I've done it on this type of engine exactly one time) but I did it apparently successfully.
I'd do it.
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