Being this tractor was only made from think 92 to 2001 and was top of the line for garden tractors, mine is a 2000.
I hate to do anything to mess it up and not be able to return it back to factory. A year or so ago I replaced the side panels, hood grille and painted the fender & foot pans and wheels and weights
I have the factory head lights and the factory lights with LED panels in them that will bolt back into the hood / grille support.

When I say top of the line it has as 22 hp fuel injected water cooled 2 cyl Kawasaki motor, hydrostatic drive / 60 deck / 3 point hitch and hydro hose hook up for my 4 way plow, power steering, tilt steering wheel, adjustable spring support seat, cruise control, parking brake, on board tool box and cup holder. Only thing it does not have is the rear PTO to power a tiller that hooks to the 3 point hitch. Wife did not want them so I did not buy used ones when I found them.
From a picture that someone did this same 4x6 LED car light up grade to his 425 I dont think I will have any problems with light output as they are made for cars & trucks on the roads.

We had a cruise Saturday and it was killer hot and like you I was soaked pulling stuff out of the trailer to set up and then put it all back when done.
I know some went to lunch but I was too spent to go and I had the trailer also makes it a little harder to move around.

On the ALT what dose the truck have now would it be a 135 AMP?
I just had to replace my 07 Crown Vic ALT and it was a 135 AMP, the police cars used the 200 AMP but the price jump between them was crazy and that was for rebuilt ones as it was stupid crazy for new!
Mine with discount was $165 and that was after I turned in the core.
The only thing that was nice about changing it out is it is right up front on top of the 4.6 motor in the Vic and my son did all the work for me
Dave ----

 

Stock gasser excursion output is 110 amps. It's a very common swap as the stocker seemed to be undersized from the start. Especially with off road lights, winch, inverters, etc.

The interceptor is 200 amp and is a supposedly a plug and play.

I don't need any more than that and the prices for the super high output units are outrageous. In addition to having to use different belts, cables, connectors, etc.

I looked at several sources and they go for around $300. Which is several hundred less than dc power, mechman, js, etc..

 

100 AMP dose sound a little low for a big truck.
I guess the Scotch in me comes out when $165 with discount normally $265 rebuilt, was a lot for a 135 AMP.
The rebuilt 200 AMP ones where like $250 without discount, cheaper but I dont know if it was a bolt in or not at the time.
New 135 was $330 and the 200 was $362. Only the 135 rebuilt was a same day pick up all other you had to order.

When I try and see if parts will inter change I look up that part for each car / truck and see if the part numbers are the same.
Only thing is if the never made a 200 AMP to fit your truck then that could be a problem but maybe both had a 100 AMP and if so then they most likely swap.

I know the 03-11 Vics only had a 4.6 motor, same as used in the Mustangs, but some of the front motor acc. are in different locations and why some of that stuff will not swap.
From reading posts on a Vic site, guys are using some Mustang Hi Po parts with a little modding to get more HP from the Vic 4.6 motor as nothing is made for the Vic cars.
Dave ----

 

Dang 200 amps you can weld with that
I would just go to the autozone website and put in your excursion, pull up the alternator, and then in another window, put in a 08 crown vic and pull up the alternator, and then look at them side by side to judge for yourself if the style and bolt holes and connectors look similar.

I know for people with old cars that do a 3G upgrade, you can use one from early-mid 90's Taurus or Mustang. They are not the exactly the same, they look the same from the front and have the 180 degree apart mounting arms to make it an easier swap into an old car, but the difference is on the back where the connections go. The Mustang one goes underneath which makes the wiring look cleaner but the Taurus one goes on top and is easier to reach. But thats a 130 amp alternator which is a huge upgrade for an old car. For sure 110 amps sound undersized for a big modern vehicle with fuel injection and ECU and all that. Plus like you pointed out, if you add some lights. Or a few 15 inch subs in the back with appropriate amps to drive them

 

Son and I got a little crazy in this heat and worked on the tractor.
Had to pull the support off and the lights out to paint the brackets and support to keep it from rusting.

Once painted got everything in place and changed the wiring to plug the lights in, line up panels she is looking good.

Even in daylight they are brite and was hitting the rear of the car about 20 feet away.
Left the tractor out so when dark I can see what they are like.
Dave ----

 

WE GOT LIGHT


I was cutting the grass just as it was getting dark but really did not need lights but you could see the where working then the rain came so put tractor away.
Son came a little while ago and asked told him it rained so did not really know so he pulled it out for a test drive.
Well worth the time and money put into this upgrade.
BTW they are wired for high beam so i can put them to low if i feel the need.
Dave ---'

 

Oh that came out good, looks good and really provides a lot of light! 10 out of 10 (y)

 

I am happy and I would have finished cutting the grass in the dark last night had it not been for the rain.
When we took the pictures it was not raining but the grass was too wet to cut.
In the first picture you can see where I stopped right at the tree. The other lines are from the grass being too tall and the tires push it down and it has not come back up enough to get a good cut.
I also think the blades need to be sharpen so I will sharpen a set I have and swap them when I do other service to it.

Need to change oil & filter for the motor and should do the trans axle too, do a tune up Plugs & air filter) as it has been years and I need to adjust the valves.
The fuel filter should be good as I did that when I had a fuel problem that turned out to be the in-tank fuel pump years ago.

After we were done with the lights a storm knocked over part of a dead tree so we put a chain around it and dragged it to the back tree line where I dump yard waste.
There was still some in the ground and backing into it with the 3 point took care of it and a chain around another part got it pulled out.
It's a beast!
Dave ----

 

Lights look great. Definitely cast a good forward beam. Too bad they get cut off on the sides. But for the stock position that's to be expected. They are nice and bright. Now you need some back up lights.


John, 200 amps is a small upgrade on these trucks. Many guys, especially diesels, are running 400 amp HO alternators with 2/0 cable. Talk about expensive.

 

I went googling for 400 amp alternators, you can spend plenty of money for sure! I found several that are fancy looking and maybe marketed towards people with a lot of audio upgrades and / or maybe a show vehicle, and others that are real heavy duty looking and maybe original type equipment on big rigs. Of course it got the gears in my head turning, but honestly I can't see that I have anything that would need this much.

 

John, I definitely do not need 400 amps. But I would like 200.

At some point the last time the stocker crapped out I replaced with a 135 from an auto parts store. Plug and play.

I'm running a 12k winch pretty often. I have high power PIAA off road lights. And occasionally run a small inverter for tools, etc. The 135 struggles at times.

Not this year but maybe next, I'm planning to install more lights and a larger, permanently mounted inverter with a second deep cycle battery and a solar set up. If I did my math right a 200 would be all I need as long as I don't run everything at once.

 

I was not sitting on the tractor, son was, but I dont think the cut off is all that bad to the sides. I really need to see the cut line out in front and not so much to the sides.
But we talked about "what if" and we think we can bend the brackets to point out or up enough, just would need to pull the support to get to the brackets or even the screws that hold the light to them *** the muffler heat shield is in the way. Even for the factory lights you had to pull the support to get to the screws because of the shield.
Maybe I ill see how they work tonight, got lazy last night.
Dave ----

 

I don't want to jinx us, but it definitely felt nice outside today. But I didn't get anything done that I wanted to. My wife wanted me to go have lunch with her and her folks which took us well past 1pm, then a trip to the grocery store and when I got home I made pickled jalapenos and (trying something new) pickled watermelon rind. Cleaned up trash on the back deck and before I knew it it was 3:30pm and I haven't attended to anything on my list. I had wanted to weld some more on the cab corner of the 83 pickup and I wanted to go for a haircut, no time to do either of those because I have plans to go to the SECU with my wife at 4pm to get a document notarized, by the time that is over will be ready to start dinner and then I'll go for my nap before I work tonight. I miss a whole day of 85 degree temps and low humidity.

James that winch and power inverter are probably the big ticket amp users. But they will pull off the battery if need be so as long as the 200 alternator can keep it charged you'd be good. Did you say you needed to upgrade the wiring to a bigger gauge to accomodate the extra power? You got me thinking, remember back in the 70's if a pickup had the camper special option they would often add an extra battery. Some kind of way of wiring it so that the main battery won't be drawn down if people are the camper with the lights on or etc. Like RV's probably are wired today. 2 batteries and 200 amp alternator should have you ready to take on the apocalypse

*edit - oh yeah I also made watermelon salsa. I harvested 9 watermelons from my garden which grew on their own from the seed I planted last year, so I'm trying different watermelon things so that I can use up a lot.

 

I had PT this morning and then went food shopping then spend some time with our 2 new foster kittens, read that as lazy to get out and cut the grass.
Helped wife take 1 of our cats to the vet for yearly checkup and shots.
Yea today would have been a good day to do outside work.

For dual batteries like in a camper it's called an isolator. The trucks ALT will charge both batteries but will isolate 1 and only let one work the camper and the other the truck.

Funny you are working with watermelons; Mary bought a large one and a orange one at the farm stand. I only had room for half of the watermelon cut up so the other half is wrapped and stored on the lower shelf of the fridge. If you needed more watermelon rinds I still have the other half when I cut it up
I am not into the pickling thing but I do eat dill pickles, dont like the bread & butter ones
Dave ----

 

In my head, I remember JcWhitney selling an isolator that would momentarily link the batteries in series during starting, so as to give 24v. Does that sound familiar, or maybe I'm remembering it wrong. Anyone with an older 6v vehicle could benefit from that if they had room for an extra battery; let them bump it to 12 to spin the motor over.

I don't need any more watermelon parts or pieces than I already got, but I did taste one of the watermelon rind pickles and it wasn't bad. I gave one to Sherry to try and she said reminds her of bread & butter pickles. I made them sweet with brown sugar, cinnamon, and allspice in the mix along with things I have used before like corriander and fennel seed. I guess I will try them on a sandwich in a few days, even though we each ate one today they are supposed to sit for a while before they are considered ready.