diff --git a/src/plots/cartesian/dragbox.js b/src/plots/cartesian/dragbox.js
index f8fa211ad8f..48d6d93afc6 100644
--- a/src/plots/cartesian/dragbox.js
+++ b/src/plots/cartesian/dragbox.js
@@ -732,7 +732,10 @@ function makeDragBox(gd, plotinfo, x, y, w, h, ns, ew) {
             for(i = 0; i < axList.length; i++) {
                 var axListI = axList[i];
                 var axListIType = axListI[axisType];
-                if(!axListI.fixedrange && axListIType.tickmode === 'sync') activeAxIds.push(axListIType._id);
+                var axId = axListIType._id;
+                if(!axListI.fixedrange && axListIType.tickmode === 'sync' && activeAxIds.indexOf(axId) === -1) {
+                    activeAxIds.push(axId);
+                }
             }
         }
 
diff --git a/src/plots/cartesian/tick_value_defaults.js b/src/plots/cartesian/tick_value_defaults.js
index 68b9207ee62..2a2e6493fcc 100644
--- a/src/plots/cartesian/tick_value_defaults.js
+++ b/src/plots/cartesian/tick_value_defaults.js
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ var isTypedArraySpec = require('../../lib/array').isTypedArraySpec;
 var decodeTypedArraySpec = require('../../lib/array').decodeTypedArraySpec;
 
 module.exports = function handleTickValueDefaults(containerIn, containerOut, coerce, axType, opts) {
-    if(!opts) opts = {};
+    if (!opts) opts = {};
     var isMinor = opts.isMinor;
     var cIn = isMinor ? containerIn.minor || {} : containerIn;
     var cOut = isMinor ? containerOut.minor : containerOut;
@@ -14,35 +14,39 @@ module.exports = function handleTickValueDefaults(containerIn, containerOut, coe
 
     function readInput(attr) {
         var v = cIn[attr];
-        if(isTypedArraySpec(v)) v = decodeTypedArraySpec(v);
+        if (isTypedArraySpec(v)) v = decodeTypedArraySpec(v);
 
-        return (
-            v !== undefined
-        ) ? v : (cOut._template || {})[attr];
+        return v !== undefined ? v : (cOut._template || {})[attr];
     }
 
     var _tick0 = readInput('tick0');
     var _dtick = readInput('dtick');
     var _tickvals = readInput('tickvals');
+    var _overlaying = readInput('overlaying');
 
-    var tickmodeDefault = isArrayOrTypedArray(_tickvals) ? 'array' :
-        _dtick ? 'linear' :
-        'auto';
+    var tickmodeDefault;
+    if (isArrayOrTypedArray(_tickvals)) {
+        tickmodeDefault = 'array';
+    } else if (_dtick) {
+        tickmodeDefault = 'linear';
+    } else if (_overlaying) {
+        tickmodeDefault = 'sync';
+    } else {
+        tickmodeDefault = 'auto';
+    }
     var tickmode = coerce(prefix + 'tickmode', tickmodeDefault);
 
-    if(tickmode === 'auto' || tickmode === 'sync') {
+    if (tickmode === 'auto' || tickmode === 'sync') {
         coerce(prefix + 'nticks');
-    } else if(tickmode === 'linear') {
+    } else if (tickmode === 'linear') {
         // dtick is usually a positive number, but there are some
         // special strings available for log or date axes
         // tick0 also has special logic
-        var dtick = cOut.dtick = cleanTicks.dtick(
-            _dtick, axType);
-        cOut.tick0 = cleanTicks.tick0(
-            _tick0, axType, containerOut.calendar, dtick);
-    } else if(axType !== 'multicategory') {
+        var dtick = (cOut.dtick = cleanTicks.dtick(_dtick, axType));
+        cOut.tick0 = cleanTicks.tick0(_tick0, axType, containerOut.calendar, dtick);
+    } else if (axType !== 'multicategory') {
         var tickvals = coerce(prefix + 'tickvals');
-        if(tickvals === undefined) cOut.tickmode = 'auto';
-        else if(!isMinor) coerce('ticktext');
+        if (tickvals === undefined) cOut.tickmode = 'auto';
+        else if (!isMinor) coerce('ticktext');
     }
 };
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