I'm rebuilding the bottom bracket on my 1971 Hercules (a Raleigh clone). This is only the second time I have attempted this and besides trashing one of the cotters, it has gone smoothly. A couple of questions.

1. I was very careful about removing the old bearings, or so I thought. Is it possible that there are 10 bearings on the left side and 12 on the right side?

2. I read once in one of the forum posts that someone out there never bothers to remove the fixed cup on the right side when doing a bottom bracket rebuild. I can't get it off and yes I know that the threads are reverse threads, but is this a good idea and how to you do it? With needle nose pliers and lots of grease I assume?

TSapp