16.5 tire options?

Beware that though the 16 " Ford rims have the same 8 lug bolt pattern as all standard 16" truck wheels have had for many years, the register/axle center hub size is different on Dodge/Plymouth vehicles. You must make sure that you have the clearance before you buy another brand of rim. If you happen to find a 16.5 " tire, check the DOT date codes, if they are only 3 digits long, they were made before the year 1999. Anything over 4-5 years max would be dangerous as the rubber compound degrades with age not mileage.
And to the person wanting to know about tires, here is a little tire history lesson....... Because at that time if you had a 3/4 ton anything and needed to carry a heavy load you only had a choice of at the biggest, a thin tread 7.50 X 16 sized tires and 10 ply rated ( load range E ) 80 lbs. tire pressure. "Being the most common HD tire. The older HD truck rims were of the split ring or split rim type. This 3 piece wheel allowed for the changing of the tire on the road without needing a tire machine to remove and install the tire. A hammer a rim bar and a couple of tire spoons and it could be done on the side of the road. Many Tire/rim explosions caused by mostly damage rim rings were becoming more common. This type of rim was used for many decades of trucking. But as loads and trucks got bigger the tires were reaching their limits and were also very hard riding because of the high air pressures needed to increase load carrying capability.
Think of the difference in ride between the tires on a 10 speed, narrow, high pressure tire and a mountain bike, large, low pressure tires.
Tire technology was getting better and rim technology as well. Cars in he 50's first the bigger luxury cars were starting to be equipped with what were called "Balloon tires". These were physically larger and because of the larger volume of air capacity they could be run at lower air pressures and still safely carry their load. The ride was much softer/smoother and the larger tread gave better stability and braking traction. One reason the 16.5 sized rim was designed so that someone would not accidentally try to mount a 16" tire on the 16.5 " rim. The standard rim width increased from 6.5" on the standard 16" rim to 9.5 " on the 16.5 " . Again, because the tire was physically much larger in total air volume, lower pressure could be run and still maintain load. Beginning in the 70's large 4 X 4's were getting popular and the favorite tire size and the biggest standard size of the time was the 12,50 X 16.5 tire. This was 12 1/2" wide. The downfall of the 16.5 " rim size was that tires were getting better, radials were becoming popular and getting more sizes and applications for trucks. The the 70 and 60 series tires were new to the scene and were wider and lower profile than the standard tires of the day. They also were not of the safety rim design and at low pressures could/would rapidly deflate and dismount from the rims which was dangerous. I was in the tire business back then, in fact I worked for a company that is long gone called " Mark C. Bloome Tire Co." they had a store that was on Tustin ave just north of Chapman, back in 74-76. They had very good reasons to make the 16.5 in sized tires and they were the top technology of their time. Just like high performance radials are all that are available since the original bias ply tires were banned for regular passenger cars because of Fuel economy back in the mid/late seventies. After the Fuel Embargo by OPEC.
Gas where I lived went from 27 cents a gallon to 50 cents a gallon and we swore that we would never pay that much for a gallon of gas. The good old days...