yea im sure mine would start in 3rd as well, never tried though, was only doing 2nd gear starts cause i dropped 1st gear lol.
speaking of gearboxes i should probably mention i have rebuilt my gearbox 3 times since its been rwd. first time was $1000 just in parts, new input shaft and lost 1st gear had to replace 1/2nd gear selector hub/syncros and gears. 2nd time was the lay shaft and input shaft bearings. 3rd time was all transfer case bearings.
so yea i basically have a new gearbox, all other syncros had also previously been done while still 4wd lol.
gearbox parts arent cheap even at trade :'(
Tell me bout it i blew my six speed in 2008 $4600 to fix it and that was me doing the work that took awhile to save up.
how long has ur rex been rwd ?
hav you had any problems with axles?