Unsure on clearances, sorry.
Well here is how mine looked at ~85k cant remember exact mileage I did it the first time, and I left them alone. A little wear, but I still see another 150k out of them and I expect to have to pull the lower front cover off eventually to reseal so I will do it then.
What head gasket set did you buy?
Just my experience -- I had victor-reinz and followed factory instructions -- 10k later oil was leaking out of gasket at rear corner. I ended up pulling the head AGAIN, but this time noticed that the Victor-Reinz MANUAL states 70nm instead of the the MB stated 55nm, so I did it to 70nm...Its been 15k since then and no usage so far.
Not sure if it was just a bad gasket, or whether the 70nm helped, but just a heads up for you to think about.
As for bearing bracket. It'll be obvious. Just grab the fan clutch and jiggle it...if it moves I would get it done. Easiest way is with the car running. You'll see if its spinning straight or has some movement as it rotates, but since you have the car apart you won't be able to do that right now, but grabbing it should be good enough.