Funny you say that. While it is not programmed this way to start in second, my Expy will only shift back down to 1st at a near complete stop, and you can actually feel the bump when it does. If I roll a stop, it will stay in second, and if I am light on the throttle, it will go ahead and stay in second. If I put my foot in it it will drop to 1st, accelerate for 2 seconds to 25mph then back to 2nd. Took a little getting used to the way it drives vs the older transmissions. It actually makes me come to a full stop at stopsigns because I don't want that 2nd to 1st to 2nd sequence. Starting from a stop in 1st is very snappy, especially for something over 6000lbs.
I am fortunate in that my Expy EL 4x4 has a 3.73. Paired with the 6 speed it is just awsome for towing. 3.73 x 4.17 = a 15.55 crawl ratio, and 4th is not quite a 1:1, but 1.14:1 which means when I lock out the 2 ODs, 4th behaves like towing in direct with a 4.10.
I noticed Toyota is accomplishing the same thing, just in a slightly different manner. Their transmission ratios are not as deep, but the axle ratio is 3.9 or 4.3, yielding the same result as Ford/GM.
