I was browsing around one of the Ford Escape forums and saw a very cool mod. for our Tributes. They are called "Hood Lifts" and replace the stock hood rod. The set I saw was made by Redline Tuning and sell for about $80 on Ebay. Sorry i dont know to post photos but with a bit of searching they can be found. I am going to put a set on my "01"
I thought I would toss that out there.