On 2000 there is no varchar(max), but it is common to use ntext or image for xml.
When you say it gets truncated, does it get truncated when you query it or when you modify it? Management Studio/Query Analizer truncates long strings it retrieves, you can change this in it options.
You can check the length of items using the datalength(columnname) function
select top 1 datalength(mycolumn) from mytable
Regards,
Andras
Andras Belokosztolszki, MCPD, PhD
GoldenGate Software