My only guess is that Ford seems to have gone to great lengths to reduce weight and maximize economy. The hybrid parts are much thinner / lighter duty than the regular parts.

 

You have piqued my curiosity. My shop manual says that to replace the inner tie rod, you must remove the rack on the non-hybrid, but on the hybrid, you can remove the inner tie rods directly with a special tool, which I did.

My question is, why the difference in technique - i.e. why do you need to remove the rack in the non-hybrid to replace the inner tie rod ends?

 

Did you ever find out about removing your rack /steering box(auto zone manual) ?
Are non hybrid tie rod assemblies really interchangeable?

 

Have those bigger tie-rods worked out well?
I'm getting ready to do mine..