6.50 to 7.50 tire

[osaltyone]

I currently have 6.50x16 on my stock height 49, but they are over 30yrs old and sidewalls are cracked. I found someone selling some new 7.50 x 16 bias ply Coker tires for a good price, but I wasn't sure if I'd have issues in the front with wider tires. Should I buy them? I think mine have tubes in them, so should I worry about the cracks?
This project is new to me, never dealt with something this old, learning as I go... I plan to use a drop axle later down the road to get it lower, but don't want to run into clearance issues then.

TIA