they should be the same size t rods wax the shell with a good car wax.

The are the same length...I don't know if anyone besides me has ever noticed this, but they didn't always center the lugs on the brass shell Slingerland snares. Here are two photos that illustrate what I'm talking about (assuming the 3 lines and badge/vent hole denote the center of the shell):

In the first photo the 3 lines go through the center of the lugs. In the second, the lugs seem to line up with the middle line; in other words, closer to the bottom edge. I have a drum like this. Doesn't seem to make any difference at all in the tuning, but the bottom tension rods almost get buried into the lug.

could the bottom head on the second photo be different in profile then the top head?....allowing the bottom rim to be closer to the shell?..are the t-rods in the second photo the same length top and bottom?...I thought mine were all the same size until I measured them......I also measured the lugs on mine and there exactly the same distance from the lug to the edge of the rim...1"...and the vent hole is centered on the rim at 2.5"

it was just strange to take all the tension rods out to restore and as i was putting them back after cleaning noticed that 4 were 1 7/8 and 4 were 2 1/8 .......usually there's one or two mis-sized rods but not 4 and 4.....i guess you never know

I think you got a drum where someone mixed things up for you - all the tension rods on my drum are the same length, although there is some variation in the length of the threaded part on some of the rods. On my drum the vent hole and 3 lines are centered, however, the lugs are mounted just like the drum in photo 2 and they sit closer to the bottom edge than the top. Here's another photo (same drum):

In the second pic. the length of the rod has gone into the lug more because the hoop flange is past the metal hoop ring. You can see it through the snaregate.

If you look real close at my snare in the photo of my kit on page 3 of the gallery (70's Slingerland Maple) you might be able to make out that the lugs are not exactly centered, just like in the photos I've posted above. Until I saw the pictures of that other drum I thought I had the only one like that in existence.

Unlike the beaded Ludwig shells, the holes for the lugs could be off slightly on a Slingerland snare and you could still put the drum together.

You can`t tell that by a pic. because the reso head may be tighter than the batter. You must take off the hoops and measure from the top of the edges.

In the second pic you gave, the thread count above the top of the lug shows a tighter reso head than the top should the lugs be centered.

Here is a close up of what I'm referring to, my friend; the lugs are not centered between the three lines in the center of the drum:

I see three lines not centered on the shell indicating a top and bottom purpose like a snare drum will have. It`s well known throughout the drum world that some companies had low to no tolerances with the drilling stations. Close enough will do. I see it a lot with snaregate alignment to the strainers, little to the left, little to the right, very few on center.

Of course that`s a maybe so because I don`t have it in my hands. You could have a close enough drum.