First you have

Wheel size

Short answer, look at the CAPY of the car, if its over 90 tons the car would have 36' wheels.  The boxcars should be 33 and the hoppers should be 36.

Keepin' it simple!

I like that solution, Dave. Quick and simple, without any need to run all over the Internet looking for specifics.

Hi all.   Thank you so

Hi all.

Thank you so much for the replys.

Seems easy. 

Who make good and durable wheels to replace?

Thanks again

Wheels

Check Intermountain and Reboxx.

Intermountain wheels are good and inexpensive, Reboxx is excellent for situations where longer or shorter axles are needed.

I started with Intermountain 36" & 33" wheels and a set of Reboxx fitting samples, as I found trucks that didn't hold the Intermountain sets properly, I built a list of the sizes of Reboxx wheels I needed.

wheels

Considering that you are living in Portugal that is part of the European Union I advise you to contact eitherModel Junction in the UK (modeljunction.info) or RD-Hobby Online Shop in Germany (RD-Hobby.de). The first has Life-like wheelsets and the latter has both Life-Like and Intermountain wheelsets. I prefer Life-Like for my Athearncars. Ordering from these MR webshops has the advantage of avoiding high shipping charges and inport duties. Both webshops have a large and varied collection of US prototype rolling stock and accessory products

Goodluck with your US style layout

Hans

Wheel size?

For most cars add up the LD LMT and the LT WT and you'll get either 220,000 which is 33 inch wheels or 263,000 or 286,000  which is for 36 inch wheels.  .DaveB

Kadee Wheels work good

I have changed most of my Athearn Blue Box wheels to Kadee 33" Smooth back Wheels, they work great.  These are sold in a pack of 12 wheel sets, and Yes Kadee #5 and then I add the prescribed NMRA weight with Lead.

In some cases when the truck plastic is not very good I just change the whole truck for Kadee sprung trucks and wheels.

I have also built some intermountain kits and changed the trucks and wheels to Ahearn Genesis Trucks and Wheels.

There was another model probably form Accurail I did use Intermountain wheels and they worked ok.

I look for the best and cheapest solution (buy in bulk) since I am always looking for to add more models to my collection.  Good luck and happy modeling!  Scott

I would also suggest checking

I would also suggest checking the height of your couplers against a height gage. In some instances going from 33 to 36 inch wheels or the other way will allow you to get the right coupler height, it will change them 1.5 scale inches. My favorite wheels are the intermountain wheels where they fit and I like the semi scale variety when I can get them. Athearn also makes metal wheels both long and short axle versions for various trucks and they work well with their equipment. You may need to buy a few sets of wheels to see what fits best for each situation and then buy the proper wheels unless you are planning a large fleet and wish to keep a supply on hand.

Due to the supply issues regarding intermountain wheels being available sometimes and then not for a while one of the folks at my local hobby shop calls them intermittent wheels. One of the folks also recommended Reboxx wheels and I have heard good things about them but never used them.

Rob in Texas

Dial caliper

I have seen this question many times over the years.

Buy yourself a dial caliper. I bought one many years ago and is very valuable in model railroading. Most come with SAE and Metric numbers. So easy to measure wheel diameter.

My first was a plastic one with a dial and small lines on two body parts for Metric and still was very useful even for metric measurements. Now I have a battery operated Digital caliper.

You will find this much easier if you go with the same diameter wheels. I would suggest a truck tuner also along with a coupler height gauge. Do it right in the beginning will reduce frustration a lot.

Rich