Hello @
kayakindude,
Thankfully, at least in my particular case, I did not need to add any more chain "links" (I'm presuming that this is what you've been meaning by "lengths"?) because my rear derailleur had enough slack takeup to handle a 52T chainring:
That said, given the fact that the town I live in is mostly flat, I hardly ever use 1st gear anyway, so the derailleur's slack takeup isn't a real-world issue to me. I can't possibly tell you for sure that you won't run into an issue with slack takeup if you swapped in a 56T, but I'd be wary if you use your lowest gear frequently. This is one reason I took a more incremental approach, first trying out a a faster freewheel and then a
moderately larger chainring.