Salisbury Diff in a UC

We have the rear axle out of the boys UC and have a couple of small probs...

The axle was in the car when we bought it and have been told it is a Salisbury that was originally from a 1 Tonner. The cast ears on the diff centre were originally blank and not fitted with the bushes for the top arms. The drums and stud patern are HQ and the axle tubes have factory mounts for the bottom arms, shocks and springs. However the bottom arms have been cut, boxed and rewelded and the angle of the shock mount is off by a few degrees, placing some side load on them, so could the tubes be HQ?
We would be keen to hear any thoughts on its parentage. (I'll sort a photo ASAP)

The ears for the top arm mount have been drilled to 27mm for a home made nolothane bush that has flogged out. As we had major problems finding someone local to machine the hole to fit a decent bush we have settled for a pair of 30mm OD spherical bearings that should work well. (another photo to come...)

Where we have run into problems is the axles have been cut and welded! Bloody horrible and one is not quite straight! I saw a post here re 1 Tonner axles being thicker and able to be shortened and resplined to suit. Can some one confirm this?
The axle seals were leaking slightly and as we have to replace them it might as well be on a decent pair of axles...

Cheers

Cut and welded axles? Are you for real? There are some dodgy people around! I run a HQ V8 salisbury in my hatchback and i use (professionaly) shortened vn commodore 28 spline axles. I would suggest using them as they bolt straight in once they are shortened and you can convert to vn commodore rear disc brakes at the same time.

Yip... Cut and welded... Not what I was hoping to find at all.

Re the VN axles...
Do I need right hand(longer) axles or will either do? The current axles are 705mm long.
Is there any difference between the disc and drum axles?

We were looking at Commodore discs for the front so now would be the time to change.

Cheers

I used 2 long axles to get shortened as the short side of the vn was too short to be resplined. All VN borgwarner diffs are disc brakes so you can get axles out of any VN and use the VN disc brakes. If you are going commodore brakes on the front you are best off doing the rear disc brakes while doing the axles and kill 2 birds with one stone.