diff --git a/include/message.h b/include/message.h
index 76ebe18..09d5c6e 100644
--- a/include/message.h
+++ b/include/message.h
@@ -11,13 +11,7 @@ struct PACKED Header {
     uint8_t preamble;
 
     // The length of the message includes the preamble and CRC16 at the end
-    union {
-        uint16_t length;
-        struct {
-            uint8_t length_l;
-            uint8_t length_h;
-        };
-    };
+    uint16_t length;
 
     // This is a CRC8 checksum for the preamble and length together
     uint8_t crc;
diff --git a/src/connection.c b/src/connection.c
index ba62051..2b79b25 100644
--- a/src/connection.c
+++ b/src/connection.c
@@ -127,8 +127,8 @@ void
 req_finalize(struct Client* client, uint8_t cmdset, uint8_t cmdid, uint8_t hostbyte, bool need_ack, size_t length, union Request* req) {
 
     req->header.preamble = 0x55;
-    req->header.length_l = length & 0xFF;
-    req->header.length_h = ((length >> 8) & 0x3) | 4;
+    //req->header.length = length & 0x1FFF | 0x400;
+    req->header.length = length;
     req->header.crc = crc8(req, 3);
     req->header.seq_id = client->seq++;
     req->header.sender = client->hostbyte;
diff --git a/src/message.c b/src/message.c
index e7c4a39..50aab48 100644
--- a/src/message.c
+++ b/src/message.c
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 enum MESSAGEERR
 message_validate(const union Message* message) {
 
-    uint16_t length = (message->header.length_h & 0x3) * 0xFF + message->header.length_l;
+    uint16_t length = message->header.length;
 
     if(message->header.crc != crc8(message, 3))
         return MESSAGEERR_HEADERCRC;