Hack your lawn tractor so you can actually see after dark.

Last Updated on 5 years by Christopher G Mendla

The lights on my Craftsman LT 1000 leave a lot to be desired.  There are times when I could use some better light such as when plowing or trying to mulch leaves after dark. I found a simple solution.

Auxiliary light installation

I added additional lights on other tractors I had with decent results. The process is simple:

• Purchase a light
• Drill a hole in the cowling
• Splice the light into the wiring for the tractor lights

I purchased a light at Harbor Freight for about $10. Drilling the cowling was no problem although it is one thing to drill a hole in an old tractor, it is another to drill a hole in a shiny, brand new tractor.

Splicing the wiring is fairly simple. In most cases, you would tap into the hot wire, run that to the light and then to ground.

In the image below, you can see the wiring coming through the cowl I modified a plastic wall anchor to use as a bushing. 

Considerations

There are a couple of considerations:

• Adding an additional load to the generator/alternator on the tractor could potentially cause issues. So, far I’ve done this on two other tractors without a problem.
• If you have a tractor under warranty this could void the warranty.
• I didn’t want to add a separate switch for the auxiliary light so I wired it into the wiring for the regular lights. Depending on the quality of the switch, you could overload it. This is the third tractor I’ve done this on without having any issues.
• A hole in the hood might hurt your resale value. On the other hand, it could add value.