Front wheel lubrication
 

As I have just finished painting the wheels on my 1650, I've noticed that there are no grease fittings for the axle. The bearings are out and cleaned, and I'll pack them by hand before installation. I'm a little surprised to not find a zerk on the hub though. My 1610 has them. Any reason or advice on lubrication practices? It would be real tough to drill and tap a hole in the hub because of the wheel rim.

MFP8055,
Now that I have an OCC I see that those wheels have grease fittings. I've thought about trying to drill and tap the wheels on my other Cubs. It's something to think about. It looks about as good as "bearing buddies" some trailers use.

Are the bearings a size that could be replaced with sealed bearings?

Drilling and tapping would definitely be a chore unless you know a machinist who could spot face it and then drill and tap at an angle.

The Original has grease fitting because it has bronze bushings instead of bearings in the wheels. I really don't see the need to add a grease fitting...most of the grease will just go into the empty space between the spindle and the inside of the wheel. It's not difficult to remove and repack the bearings occasionally.

Stens makes a sealed wheel bearing, I just got a set, fit perfect, and as Matt G said, there's a lot of wasted grease in that space in there.

Apparently IH Cub Cadet sees it your way. Some of these narrow frames don't have many grease zerts. But I assure you that no garden tractor has ever broken because of too much grease.

What do you mean? The front axle pivot (starting with the 1x2/3 series I think), front spindles, steering gear, and deck spindles all have grease fittings. A lot of stuff built today doesn't have any of those. As for the wheel, it's a waste of grease to stick half a tube of it in there to get any of it into the bearings.