fork seals

Well, I thought that once rebuilding things would be a bit smoother. But I'm proving me wrong: she seems to want to fight me all the way! Putting together the front legs threw up a minor issue, but just wanted to doublecheck this with you guys on here. I dropped in the seals, but the washer...

I bought new fork seals for my 34mm front end, but the old ones are such a %$tch to get out, I was wondering just how necessary it is to change them. If they are in there so tight, they must still be sealing the forks just fine. (?) The current forks I have weren't leaking, they were just...