As far as I know, the 6 lug on a 7.25" bolt circle wheels were only used on 1953-66 F350's and commercial chassis, and nothing else. There were 17-1/2" non-split versions out there, but I have not seen one in a very long time. If you are set on keeping this vehicle, you might be well off to have the wheel bolt pattern re-drilled to 8 on 6-1/2". Those wheels are 25-cents/dozen.
Military m715's and some 60's IH trucks had this same pattern too.I have never seen one in a non split rim design OEM. On my m715 I cut the centers out and refitted them into a 16.5 rim. it is the same ammount of work for a 15 or 16" rim. (I only chose 16.5 at that time to match the tires I had) unfortunately, the center holes are too big to allow for drilling for 8 on 6.5 (common 8 lug)
Lock ring wheels such as yours are not the feared widow makers, yours are lock ring, true widow makers are on 1 1/2 ton trucks and bigger, they look like a tubeless wheel but the wheel actually comes apart in the center at the high spot, most tire shops won't deal with them.
Ok then how about a re-drill to Ford F-SuperDuty 10 on 7-1/4"? Same circle, more lugs, plenty common.
drilling new bolt pattern seems to be best solution. I was also considering finding donor axle and shortening it to fit would have the added benefit of disk breaks.
Nothing wrong with split rims if they are in decent shape. 16" tires are common as well....Take them somewhere where they know how to work on them...Places that do large truck and forklift tires can do them. The alternative is to have wheels built (very pricey) I have "Widowmakers" on my 63 F600 I have replaced the steers with regular split rims. I'm going to do the rears as well ,but I need to change to a stud with a shorter shoulder as mine are hub Pilot, I am changing to Stud pilot (Inner and outer nut) as apposed to one nut that holds the duals on. Here are some widowmaker pics...Steer before I replaced with split rim. Outside veiw 20" widowmaker This is all you have between you and your maker...You see the part of the lip that is concave...thats where these come apart and go back together. The ring needs to be absolutley centered and they are often cracked....This was a bad design when they were new 48 years ago.
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