33" or 36" Wheels for Roundhouse 50' HC Boxcars?

[Zephyr]

I am working on a fleet of modern boxcars for the Rock Island. I bought several Roundhouse 50' Hi-Cube boxcars, both in the double- and single-plug door combinations (photo below). I am trying to figure out if these cars should have 33" wheels or 36" wheels. I have tried both on them and it appears the 33" wheels fit better but still require 1-2 gray fiber washers per truck to meet the coupler height standard. The 36" wheels don't require a washer, but are sometime slightly higher than the coupler height gauge and are very close to rubbing the floor of the boxcar.

Anyone have any ideas or had any experience with these types of cars? Thanks for your help!

 

[jbaakko]

33" is good for MOST 50' or shorter boxcars. I discussed this in detail before, as I was confused too.

http://www.modelrailroadforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6328
The first post is about dead on. I'd image your cars are in the 165,000 to 175,000 ranges.

 

[Zephyr]

Thanks for the info, Josh, that helps a lot. The 33" tested better than the 36" so I may just go with that.