You do realize that the ball joint is in the steering knuckle... not the control arm... correct?
Using the link you provided...
Where the link shows Home> "your VIN # " ... click on your VIN # .
The drop down menu has a link for "knuckle/hub assembly". When you click on that... it shows knuckles for 14mm ball joints.
At this point... I'd say the listing for the 16mm ball joints in the control arm section... is wrong.
THIS... is why I always suggest to call the DEALER... with the VIN #.
Even reputable websites can sometimes have misinformation listed. Probably a data entry error.
I know the ball joint attaches to the knuckle (I call it a spindle) that the wheels attach to and the ball joint shaft goes through the lower control arm.
The ball joint shaft attached to the bottom of the knuckle is what I'm measuring.
I tired using Ford's lookup itself but it didn't tell me the control arm ball joint opening size. It said discontinued but it did have part numbers.
The site I linked to above has and almost identical number other than Ford's started with a 6 and that sites starts with a 2. The rest of the number is the same.
I do see the knuckle says includes ball joint 14mm.
I just went to the site and changed it to a 2001 and it shows 14mm for the lower arm. It has the same number too except that number starts with an X
But it's not showing me the correct control arm.
The one it shows me looks like this which looks like it's for something else
But mine looks like the one with the front offset bushing mount that says 16mm which looks like this
I went originally to parts.ford.com but they do not show my part for my vin which I guess is because it's discontinued. The dealers don't either.
I tried a couple others. oemfordpartsdirect and bluespringsfordparts Both of those show the wrong arm for my car.
So it's looking like from what I can see that the 14mm arm is a different design than the 16mm? Which makes me even more confused since RockAuto shows both 14 and 16 arms that have the front offset bushing mount that looks like mine.
When I got the car in February the guy gave me receipts on what he had replaced which included 4 upper arms and ball joints 4 stabilizer links and 4 lower arms and ball joints. But I am thinking on the front the mechanic called the front knuckles, control arms, since the lower balljoints appear to be new but the lower arms bushings have that play.
SMGDH Why couldn't Ford have made this easy?