I cut both the metal and the plastic !

I cut the metal (the stock rod linkage) down to 17 mm. Stock lenght of the rod linkage is 23 mm from tip to tip.

As for the plastic, I trimmed the length of the ball cups. The picture attached shows the top one being the original (and uncut) and the bottom one is the one that was trimmed.

This combo gives the total length of the ball cups and rod linkage assembly as 39.5 mm instead of 44.5 mm.