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No you are not being hard headed. Some people do not understand what went in to building somethings in the first place let alone why welding could do more harm than good if cetrain requirments are not met.
I should think Safety is a big issue in this. I bet some body would be really upset if a wheel broke in two while carrying a heavy load, or if a piece of wheel fell on some ones head.
There's more to consider than just rebuilding the OD of the wheels. The hardness you gave sounds like commercially heat treated 4140 or 1040, most likely the latter. To bad a PMI can't read Carbon content.
I'm sure you know welding will created a HAZ that will be a lot harder. If you PWHT (stress relieve)(and you should) it you need know what the Tempering temp was used so you do not exceed it.