I managed to knock the center out of the wheel. It took a bit more effort than I had anticipated. First I cut the four 4" long welds with a cut off wheel. Then i heated the joint and started smacking near the joint with a piece of 1/2" round bar and a BFH. It took a while but the weld seams finally split and the center popped out. I wanted to make sure not to over grind and cut into the rim. Next week I'll swing by the metal shop and have them make up two 16.5" ID rings about 8" wide.
The rims will end up right about 15" wide , which is what M/T specs for the tires. The aluminum wheels M/T offers have 5" of backspace, so I am going get as close to that as I can. Ironically, the center will end up almost exactly where it was in stock configuration. It needed to come out because where I am adding to the width starts right under the edge of the front surface of the center.
