On an average day, the moon is 238,855 miles from us on planet Earth. Due to its orbit, the actual distance varies significantly.
This story, however, is not really about the moon. It’s about my trusty Tacoma, a truck that I lived out of for five years in the best of times and the coldest of times.
MoonTaco Origins
I bought my 2015 Tacoma, a stock SR5 model, in 2016 with just 6,000 miles on it. At the time, I was living and working nomadically, taking jobs across the West at a breakneck pace. Suffice it to say that the miles aggregated quickly. During my tenure, I’ve averaged over 40,000 miles annually — triple the average American driver. My low back may never forgive me, but that’s a story for another day.
With ambitions of driving it farther off the beaten path, I researched the crap out of modifications. Due to grad school loans and a lean budget, I’ve added them piecemeal over the years.
This February, my odometer ticked past 238,855, a hallowed number for old rigs, giving me bragging rights to the nickname MoonTaco. I now hope to drive my trusty steed back to Earth before her final resting place.
MoonTaco Mishaps and Maintenance
The path hasn’t always been easy. I bent the drive shaft rallying off-road in northern Utah. I broke a control arm while crawling on the east side of the Sierras. I blew a shock in the high country of Colorado. I fried the brakes while towing a heavy trailer. I’ve had to fix a few wheel bearings. I’ve wrecked a side panel swerving past an elk. And, infamously, the MoonTaco has been sunk in the Yuba River up to the top of the tailgate — the engine stayed dry, thankfully. Perhaps, someday, I’ll write a book about it.
While I love to push the truck to its limit, I also take meticulous care of it. I’m diligent about regular oil changes and an annual full-service check of belts, hoses, fluids, and plugs. I also consistently rotate the tires to even out the wear. I check the brake pads and rotors, as well as the differential, coolant, and transfer case oils, at least once a year.
I fix issues as soon as I notice early indicators — new sounds, feels, and intuitions — often avoiding major repairs. Staying on top of these things, and a little luck, have paid dividends.
MoonTaco Upgrades
Thanks to a reliable engine and a limited amount of complex electronics, I’m naively optimistic. I’m not driving as much these days, which means it may take me 10 years to complete the round trip from the moon back to Earth. That’s a long time, so to increase my odds, I’m investing in a few aftermarket parts — burly tires, durable brakes, and a beefier suspension, to name a few. Upgrades that help reduce the inevitable deterioration of high mileage driving, frequent towing, and the washboard dirt roads ahead.
While I take the time to install these on the truck, I thought it would be useful to explain why I believe they are worthwhile, and which parts I trust on the MoonTaco.
Tires: BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2
Full disclosure, this will be my third set of KO2s. For the mix of surfaces I drive — tarmac, dirt, and a healthy dose of snow during the winter months — a premium A/T tire like the KO2 is ideal. With an open tread design, I get better traction off road without sacrificing handling on highways. I also get durable sidewalls that let me expand my load capacity.
Plus, KO2s can be used year-round. For all that, the downsides are worth it. Each set of KO2s only lasts around 50,000 miles, and they cut a little into fuel efficiency, but having trust in your tires to tow the snowmobile trailer to the snowpark, drive to remote river put-ins for fly fishing, and shuttle mountain bikes all summer is worth it.
Suspension: Fox Elite Shocks
My Tacoma — a 2015 vintage six-cylinder with a double cab and long bed — has a stock payload of 1,500 pounds. After adding the weight of passengers, dogs, gear, bed cap, and roof racks, you don’t have much left over. If you’re hauling anything more than short camping trips or small house projects, a suspension upgrade needs to be at the top of the list.
I recently upgraded to Fox’s new Elite system with a 2-inch lift, and the difference is shocking. It’s much smoother on rough dirt and has tighter control and better handling on tarmac. I also added a Firestone Ride-Rite Airbag Kit, which enhances both my overall payload and my control while the truck is loaded to the max.
Brakes: PowerStop Z36 Kit
I’m often optimizing for big loads (lots of friends!), a heavy trailer, and steep mountain roads, which require a burly set of brakes. I decided on something that wasn’t terribly hard to install, felt like stock brakes on the highway, but could handle the heat of long descents and had the stopping power to control a fully loaded truck and snowmobile or boat trailer.
The Z36, paired with slotted rotors, has already impressed with its feel and performance. We already feel a lot safer knowing that, if needed, we can almost stop on a dime.
Power: K&N Performance Air Intake System
Wanting to get a little more power without the risk of blowing up my engine with a turbocharger, I opted to add a performance cold air intake. This small addition, paired with the larger pipe I already have, pushes more cold air into the engine, creating more horsepower (most tests show around 10-15%), torque, acceleration, and throttle responsiveness. Depending on your rig, they can sometimes improve fuel efficiency, but I haven’t noticed a noticeable improvement.
Armor: Westin Sportsman Guard
When the truck was young, I invested in running boards and a skid plate to protect it from rocks and stumps on rough and gnarly roads. But, like an old dog unable to run in old age, I’m not rock crawling much anymore. Therefore, my biggest concern now is an unlucky and unassuming deer wandering into the road at the wrong time.
The Sportsman Grille Guard is my insurance against totaling my truck. It’s a fully welded one-piece construction made of a 1.5-inch diameter tube that is bolted to the frame, stable on rough roads, and solid enough to protect against animal encounters.
Tools Not Jewels
“Tools not jewels,” a burgeoning adage for new skis, has long been my ethos for the truck. A 4×4 is meant to be used, fixed, and used again. This is especially true for second gen Tacos, which aren’t exceptional at anything other than lasting forever.
If you’re going to buy one for the love of God, please put it to real use. Help your neighbors move, take it on road trips loaded to the gills, get a little sideways on dirt, learn how to handle a trailer, and enjoy getting stuck a few times. Part of keeping it running into old age is learning what it is — and is not — capable of in adolescence.
The dealer I worked with claimed that most Tacomas last 300,000 miles, a [unsubstantiated] number that the internet seems to agree with. The record, for those curious, is north of 1.5 million. Still, there’s no silver bullet for getting this truck to the moon and back. My hope is that with regular maintenance, smart upgrades, and a keen knowledge of its inner workings, the odds will be on my side.
