Looks like the rod ends are being consolidated by the manufactures like the ball joints. I found out a few years ago that the manufactures started using the tapered studs from other applications so they could cut down logistic/maunfacturing costs. What you have to do is put washer/washers under the nut now as the studs can be longer and the nut goes past where the pin gets set. There is a possibility that your center link had enlarged holes but it sounds more like parts issue. Another discovery I made on the ball joints was that the stud length could be different box to box or manufacture to manufacture which made it necessary to verify the stud length on the joints if you were replacing them as singles or pairs.