Just clean and regrease them, you are reading in a cheap ball bearing old style loose ball replacement procedure, inappropriately ,,

you can buy a bag of a thousand steel ball bearings for a few dollars ,
so shops tend to use new bearings rather than fuss with cleaning and inspecting each ball.

stiffness may just be your setting a bit tight, but there is little concern
as long as the wheel falls in steering, towards the direction the bike leans.
the liner contact between bearing and race has a little more drag,
than the point contact of a ball,
but fork doesn't move more than a dozen degrees at most as you ride.
and the durability of linear contact is why the use in a headset is best..