U-bolt installation on an 8 3/4 housing

They aren't aftermarket, they have the flat spot in the top of the U to distribute the pressure on the housing and each one is consistently 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch longer on one side. I wonder if the factory tightening procedure or the stresses on the housing over 40-50 years actually distorted the bolt so it's pulled one side down unevenly??? Wierd!

Yeah, who knows, lol. As long as they are in decent shape, no harm no foul.

You can always trim them after install if it bugs ya, it probably would me.