Ok, so after much much talk with the wife she agreed-ish to letting me buy new tires. I have to sell my current ones first, so they will be going on the marketplace tonight probably asking 1300 for the tires and 400 for wheels or 1500 for the entire set if someone buys it together. I'm hoping that moves them pretty fast that is $1500 less than if someone tried to order all that new and it practically is new.
For now, unless I can find some used I am going to just make my own beadlock wheels. I'll buy a cheap set of steelies and just make my own 32 bolt beadlocks. I've done a lot of them back when I was in my 20's.
I am looking at my options and asking for opinions- I am only looking at tires that are good and in stock which isn't a ton. I know there are some people out there that will tell me that d44 wont hold up to 38" tires, but I will make them work. I am a crawler guy, and barely ever use the skinny pedal, and I have chromoly axles front and rear w/ spares for the front and I'm about to order spares for the rear. I have a buddy that is pushing me really hard to go BFG reds, but at 39" tall and $900 a tire I am pretty sure that wont happen.
First option and my only sticky tire on the list is the Patagonia black label. 38x13.5r17 list on NR4x4 for $434 a tire. I like the price, but have heard that they are about 2" shorter than advertised.
Maxxis Creepy crawlers bias ply 38x13r15 for $643 a tire on summit racing. I like them, but they are the most expensive option and still use a 15" rim kind of takes away a little.
39.5x13.5r15 irok bias ply for $496 a tire on summit (summit doesn't show a quanity in stock, it just says limited stock, but ships tomorrow). No one has 16.5 in stock and 4wp told me it could be 6 months before they have a set. I dont like the looks of these tires, but they are a tried and true tire that work well and are light for a 39.5" tire and are also a really cheap option.
38x13.5r17 Mickey thompson xs bias ply for $607 a tire on summit. They also have the 40" tire for $696, but as much as I want them I know that is too much for my d44 axles.