Exhaust sealing ring question

[eion]

I'm in the process of installing a secondary muffler bypass - I just had one quick question that I haven't been able to find the answer to (and it may be obvious/stupid, in which case sorry).

The sealing rings that go between the mufflers and are covered by the clips (kinda) have a ridge on them along the middle - should they be pushed into the mufflers/pipes/tips all the way up until this ridge? The reason I ask is that I haven't been able to do this so far, it takes a lot of effort to push the parts together at all - does the effort need to be made?

Thanks!