Take a look at Re: Reomte View Field Width Problem Thread #700774. It discusses similar problem.

>Hi all,
>
> I've been a strange problem using remote view.
>See the following scenario:
>
>Table in SQL Server with a field varchar(50)
>
>I created a Remote View and the properties
>shows char(20). I change that but it back.
>
>Did someone had something like this???
>
>
>Thanks.