They do come off without much hassle; you grab the outer rim of the washer with a regular pair of pliers and just unscrew the plug out of the gasket. It's worth doing, too, which is why Chrysler said to do it.
Yeah, right! A hell of a lot easier said than done with these plugs, all 6 start out cross threaded, guess it's time for the snips and not muck up the threads.