Ok, so I went out to measure the Diff tonight… now the only welds or joins on the tubes are these
I’ve always assumed them to be the factory welds from when they joined the tubes to the pumpkin so I still don’t think my Diff has been shortened.
Now as the Diff is still in the car I couldn’t stand it upright & measure its true length so my method was to measure from the back of the drum brake backing plate on one side to the back of the backing plate on the other
That gave a measurement of 55.5 inches… so since the backing plates are a little inboard of the true face of the diff tubes I’m guessing that my Diff is 56” long