Farmall Cub

I had the front wheels and tires off of my wife's original so that I could paint the inside of the rims and mount some nice new 3 rib tires. While they were off I noticed that the bushings had a few cracks in them and were worn. Is there a better solution than new bushings? Perhaps a bearing like the others use?

To my knowledge, a bushing is about the only answer. The ID of the hub is 1-3/8" which is the same size as the the narrow frame models, HOWEVER, the Original spindle is 7/8" in diameter and the other models that use bearings have 3/4" diameter spindles (until the later models with 1" spindles). The bearings will fit in the Original wheels, but won't fit the spindles. The only answer I know of is to bite the bullet and buy the new bushings. Just be sure you line up the groove in the OD of the bushing with the grease zerk in the hub before you press them in. I will say that I have a set of Original spindles on a custom built Original that someone reduced the diameter of the axle part of the spindle to 3/4" and I use bearings in the wheel. I don't know who did it, or how they did it. Since the spindle is "L" shaped, I don't know how it could be chucked up in a lathe and turned down, so I assume it was ground to size between two grinding wheels. The part that fits in the front axle was left the original 7/8" diameter.