early CJ 16" wheels, widening service?

Hello all,
I am looking into the future when my 31's on wagon wheels are worn out. I don't want to buy any more 15" tires. They are getting harder and harder to find, heavy, and expensive. And 16" tires can be had much cheaper, in more sizes. And I want a spare.
My CJ build is slotted for a "military" theme, with MARPAT urban camo rendered in metallics, so I want wheels that have a very utilitarian or military look to them.
However, most Dodge and Ford truck steel wheels are all 15". So I am thinking a set of the original 16" M38A1(or cheap equivalent) wheels, with a new 8" wide "ring"(or whatever the term is) welded to the center disk.

Could anyone here recommend a better solution? Or recommend a good shop or individual that does quality work to re-ring them? Or widen the stock wheels?

Will these wheel centers actually bolt onto intermediate axles? And if anyone has a set they can let go of considering the shipping and deconstruction, please chime in! Only the center disk has to be nice!

Thank you in advance, all!

 

Stockton Wheel can make you what you want.
http://www.stocktonwheel.com/heavy_duty.html

I prefer the 2o Series wheel, but the 22 would work as well.

 

I admit the 22 looks right, but unless a few people who have used their wheels here chime in waxing euphoric about their experiences, I wouldn't trust them. I have read all kinds of stories about shoddy work, and some of the worst customer service and ethics possible.
Can't find pricing for Stockton, but Coker wants $805 for 5 rims with dual pattern lug holes? lol

 

Stockton Wheel has been around for a long time. The original owner had a bad reputation as mentioned above, but the original owner has passed away and it is being run under new owners. I have had no experience with them in the last several years so I cant tell you if they have changed their practices.

 

Member Boyink has had experience with them iirc and it wasn't flattering. That was several years ago though.
Mike is a pretty patient sort also.

 

There is a lot of discussion of Stockton Wheel Co. on Pirate4x4. https://www.google.com/search?q=siteirate4x4.com+stockton+wheel&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

According to what I read, there were a lot of complaints prior to the owner passing away ca 2011. I did not find any recent posts (since 2012) that complain about them ... https://www.google.com/search?q=siteirate4x4.com+stockton+wheel&source=lnt&tbs=cdr:1,cd_min:1/1/2012,cd_max:11/7/2015&tbm=#tbs=cdr:1,cd_min:1/1/2012,cd_max:11/7/2015&q=siteirate4x4.com+"stockton+wheel"

You could ask for more recent opinions there or at JeepForum, which also gets a lot of traffic. Be aware that Pirate is rough compared to here.

Certainly I would call Stockton and ask about the wheels I like and about timely delivery. They may also have some referrals to give you - I'm sure they've heard questions like this before.

And yes, the M38A1 centers will fit on intermediate axles. (Well, I think they will. There's no problem with the bolt pattern. The only problem could be fitting over your brakes. I don't think this is a problem with 16" wheels, or with non-finned drums.) Putting used centers in wider rims used to be very common - if you can find a wheel shop near you, they should be able to do that easily.

 

Times change. In the '70's, 15" tires were easier to find so we had the 16" rims cut down to fit 15" tires. Cut the military centers out and weld to a new outer rim. A shop in Denver did the job for us.
Over in the Mitsu Fuso crowd, Stockton still has a bad rep.

 

Thanks all for the advice and replies. When you say "finned" I hope you don't mean the stock 11x2 manual drums I have. They have small "ribs" or "fins" parallel to axle on the outer circumference. Would they really interfere, being only @ 13" OD?

If I am going to spend a fair chunk for 5 steel wheels, I might as well go full custom, and get some confused looks. Spending nearly $7-800 for "off the shelf" steel wheels, some of which with dual lug patterns(look hokey) doesn't sit right with me.


I am really thinking that I can find a set of 5 modern, cheap 16x8's at a local yard, and I know of some early wheels the wheel ring area is pretty toasted, so could be had cheap, and cut them myself. I think the hard part would be to find someone fairly close here in mid ohio(@ 44905) with a lathe big enough, who also TIG's, to weld them nice and straight.