Sorry about being late to the party! Even though you've already decided against using the 16.5" wheels you were interested in, I wanted to share some info for anyone else reading your thread who may be interested in any of the military surplus stuff.
The pictures you had of the 12 bolts and 36" tires are stock 12 bolt H1 military double beadlock wheels with the older Bias ply tires. There are basically 3 versions of the wheels, all 16.5", all about 8.75" wide, all 8 on 6.5" pattern (8 on 165.1mm), all have about 7" of backspacing, but having either 8, 12 or 24 bolts holding the 2 halves together. The oldest is the 8 bolt design that was originally designed for the H1 and was only rated to handle the 36" bias ply tires you saw in the pic you shared. The 8 bolts are the most common, cheapest and usually the one you see for sale on CL, Ebay and everywhere. I HIGHLY recommend AGAINST purchasing this version as they are only rated to handle bias tires and are NOT rated for ANY Radial tires!! There are a number of horror stories of people running radials on these and having the 2 halves of the wheel separate when one of the 8 bolts broke. Basically if one bolt breaks, a chain reaction occurs and the rest of the bolts can quickly break as well....so imagine that happening at 50 or 60mph. Seriously, don't run radials on 8 bolt beadlocks.
The 12 bolt H1 wheels were designed for radial tires and ran the 37x12.5R16.5 Goodyear MT tires that everyone has seen for sale. They are ok tires for the price, but as a street tire they suck! Very hard to balance, loud, poor performance and typically out of round. They wear like steel on the road and really need siping or grooving to perform on the trail.
The newest H1 wheel is the 24 bolt version that was designed for the up-armored H1 vehicles outfitted against IEDs. They designed to handle E load tires and run on rubber runflats when/if the tires are shot or blown out. They are available with either BFG Bajas or Goodyear MT/Rs, in either D or E load ranges. I've found that the 24 bolt wheels with evenly spaced bolts are D load and the ones with 12 pairs of bolts are E load tires. Both are 10X better than the Goodyear MT by far and are GREAT on the road! The wheels are heavier than the 12 bolts, but not by a huge amount. The runflats are solid rubber though and are quite heavy.
I have purchased, sold, driven and repaired all of these tires and the Goodyear MT/R is the best of them all: easiest to balance, best road manners, good tread pattern (hammer claw pattern), strong sidewalls and not too loud. 2nd would be the BFG Bajas, then the Goodyear MTs by about a hair over the older 36" bias ply. More important than the manufacturer is the date code, a 4 digit number showing the date of manufacture. The first 2 digits are the week and the second 2 are the year. Keep in mind that most tires have a working life of around 7-8 years tops, so be wary of older codes. Anything with a 3 digit code is older than 2000 and shouldn't even be considered. Another important thing to consider is that anyone who sells tires that are not mounted can very easily trick you...these tires don't show weather cracks when unmounted and it's sad how many people I've met who have been taken for hundreds of dollars for tires that will never hold air. Be careful!
In regards to the backspacing, there are only the options of recentering or spacers. I DO NOT recommend flat plate centers as they are either too thin and weak or too thick and stupid heavy. The pressed centers are much stronger, lighter and better designed. There are a few manufacturers that make kits that are flat plate w/ gussets and are supposedly the best of both worlds, but i have no experience with them and if it was really that great of an idea I think more people would use and sell them. When buying recentered wheels, make sure you buy from a reputable company like TrailWorthyFab. They balance the rims after welding and reject anything over a certain amount off. I've also seen them fix mistakes, replace wheels and handle any issues where they may have been at fault, which is more important than quality sometimes.
As for not having many 16.5" tires...they are still out there and it seems that the military will be selling the MT/R and Baja for a long time. Long enough to justify investing in a set if you ever get the chance. I still have a few sets myself: a set of BFG Bajas on aluminum 8 on 6.5" 16.5s and a set of Goodyear MT/Rs on 24 bolt H1 beadlocks. When I have inventory I sell 90% and better sets of 4 for about $1000 that includes beadlocks, rubber inserts and tires w/ all hardware, valves, seals, etc. If you price TrailWorthyFab you'll see that with shipping it's not that much difference. Obviously lesser tread sets go for less.... I was in Tulsa, but now live just north of Denton, TX if you ever want to come take a look.
The pictures you had of the 12 bolts and 36" tires are stock 12 bolt H1 military double beadlock wheels with the older Bias ply tires. There are basically 3 versions of the wheels, all 16.5", all about 8.75" wide, all 8 on 6.5" pattern (8 on 165.1mm), all have about 7" of backspacing, but having either 8, 12 or 24 bolts holding the 2 halves together. The oldest is the 8 bolt design that was originally designed for the H1 and was only rated to handle the 36" bias ply tires you saw in the pic you shared. The 8 bolts are the most common, cheapest and usually the one you see for sale on CL, Ebay and everywhere. I HIGHLY recommend AGAINST purchasing this version as they are only rated to handle bias tires and are NOT rated for ANY Radial tires!! There are a number of horror stories of people running radials on these and having the 2 halves of the wheel separate when one of the 8 bolts broke. Basically if one bolt breaks, a chain reaction occurs and the rest of the bolts can quickly break as well....so imagine that happening at 50 or 60mph. Seriously, don't run radials on 8 bolt beadlocks.
The 12 bolt H1 wheels were designed for radial tires and ran the 37x12.5R16.5 Goodyear MT tires that everyone has seen for sale. They are ok tires for the price, but as a street tire they suck! Very hard to balance, loud, poor performance and typically out of round. They wear like steel on the road and really need siping or grooving to perform on the trail.
The newest H1 wheel is the 24 bolt version that was designed for the up-armored H1 vehicles outfitted against IEDs. They designed to handle E load tires and run on rubber runflats when/if the tires are shot or blown out. They are available with either BFG Bajas or Goodyear MT/Rs, in either D or E load ranges. I've found that the 24 bolt wheels with evenly spaced bolts are D load and the ones with 12 pairs of bolts are E load tires. Both are 10X better than the Goodyear MT by far and are GREAT on the road! The wheels are heavier than the 12 bolts, but not by a huge amount. The runflats are solid rubber though and are quite heavy.
I have purchased, sold, driven and repaired all of these tires and the Goodyear MT/R is the best of them all: easiest to balance, best road manners, good tread pattern (hammer claw pattern), strong sidewalls and not too loud. 2nd would be the BFG Bajas, then the Goodyear MTs by about a hair over the older 36" bias ply. More important than the manufacturer is the date code, a 4 digit number showing the date of manufacture. The first 2 digits are the week and the second 2 are the year. Keep in mind that most tires have a working life of around 7-8 years tops, so be wary of older codes. Anything with a 3 digit code is older than 2000 and shouldn't even be considered. Another important thing to consider is that anyone who sells tires that are not mounted can very easily trick you...these tires don't show weather cracks when unmounted and it's sad how many people I've met who have been taken for hundreds of dollars for tires that will never hold air. Be careful!
In regards to the backspacing, there are only the options of recentering or spacers. I DO NOT recommend flat plate centers as they are either too thin and weak or too thick and stupid heavy. The pressed centers are much stronger, lighter and better designed. There are a few manufacturers that make kits that are flat plate w/ gussets and are supposedly the best of both worlds, but i have no experience with them and if it was really that great of an idea I think more people would use and sell them. When buying recentered wheels, make sure you buy from a reputable company like TrailWorthyFab. They balance the rims after welding and reject anything over a certain amount off. I've also seen them fix mistakes, replace wheels and handle any issues where they may have been at fault, which is more important than quality sometimes.
As for not having many 16.5" tires...they are still out there and it seems that the military will be selling the MT/R and Baja for a long time. Long enough to justify investing in a set if you ever get the chance. I still have a few sets myself: a set of BFG Bajas on aluminum 8 on 6.5" 16.5s and a set of Goodyear MT/Rs on 24 bolt H1 beadlocks. When I have inventory I sell 90% and better sets of 4 for about $1000 that includes beadlocks, rubber inserts and tires w/ all hardware, valves, seals, etc. If you price TrailWorthyFab you'll see that with shipping it's not that much difference. Obviously lesser tread sets go for less.... I was in Tulsa, but now live just north of Denton, TX if you ever want to come take a look.
