Andy, I would assume that you also had to shorten the tops of the gear doors.
Now that I actually have the kit in my hands, it looks as if the oleos are almost completely compressed, and the gears are in fact, too long at the top. On top of that, (no pun intended) the gear leg is, for all practical purposes, identical to the Hasegawa P-47's, even down to the alignment key, (and matches up really well with the gear from the High Planes P-47N) now consider the fact that the Has. gear socket is molded directly to the top wing half, whereas the Aca. mounting socket is molded into the wheel well in the bottom half, right there is a good mm or so.
Anyway, you did a nice job, no matter how you cut it (pun intended).
BTW, yes, Academy decals are pretty bad, they make a decent kit at a decent price, and then you have to go spend more than the kit on aftermarket decals.