Powerhand EX25 vs EX28 vs EX36 vs EX40

The EX designation runs across two separate Powerhand product families, and buyers regularly conflate them. EX25, EX28, EX36 and EX40 exist both as forestry grapples and as grapple saws, and the number in each case refers to grapple area in square metres, not to carrier size or cut capacity. The one question that decides the model is what your carrier can lift at the radius you actually work at, once the head, rotator, bracket and hitch have been subtracted. For most mixed Australian fleets that answer is the EX28: it spans the widest carrier band in the range and leaves more boom capacity for the timber than the larger heads. Buy up only when the material fills the jaw by bulk before it fills it by mass.

One structural point matters before any of the numbers. The rigid grapple saw range covers the EX25, EX28 and EX36. The EX40 grapple saw is not part of that rigid range: it exists only in tiltrotator and tree-care configurations. If you have been quoted a rigid EX40 saw, that specification needs checking before anything else in the order is discussed.

How each one works

Every EX forestry grapple shares the same architecture. Inward-angled tines close against gripping structures on the underside of the headstock so that roundwood is driven toward the centre of the jaw rather than squeezed out, and the tines are solid Hardox, 50 mm section on the EX28 and above and a smaller section on the EX25. Mounting is rigid or swing-link, and Powerhand uses Indexator rotators where continuous rotation is specified. Capacity climbs from 0.25 m² on the EX25 through 0.28 m² on the EX28 and 0.36 m² on the EX36 to 0.40 m² on the EX40, and maximum opening from 1,641 mm to 2,137 mm.

A grapple saw is the same grapple with a chainsaw bar in the headstock and an Indexator saw rotator. The grapple secures the piece, the bar swings through, and the severed section is already held when the cut finishes. The EX25 grapple saw runs a 900 mm bar and a 600 mm maximum cut on 0.404 inch chain. The EX28 matches that cut with multiple saw motor displacement options and a choice of 0.404 inch or 3/4 inch chain. The EX36 steps up to a 1,000 mm bar and a 650 mm cut. The EX40 reaches a 700 mm cut on a 1,000 mm bar, in tiltrotator or worm-drive tree-care form only.

Carrier bands

1. EX25: 8–12 t
2. EX28: 12–25 t
3. EX36: 16–25 t
4. EX40: 20–30 t

Where the difference shows up on site

Attachment mass is the real constraint, not capacity

The capacity numbers tempt buyers upward and the mass numbers should pull them back. A grapple gains weight quickly with a rotator: the EX25 goes from 323 kg bare to 400 kg fitted, the EX28 from 496 to 617 kg, the EX36 from 652 to 837 kg and the EX40 from 875 to 1,091 kg. Grapple saws are heavier again, from 651 kg on the EX25 saw to 986 kg on the EX28, 1,176 kg on the EX36 and approximately 1,180 kg on the EX40 in tiltrotator configuration. Every one of those kilograms is carried at radius and comes directly off what is left for the timber. Read the lift chart guide and run the lift capacity calculator with the bracket and hitch included, not just the head.

Carrier bands overlap, and that is deliberate

The bands are not a clean staircase. The EX25 covers 8 to 12 tonne carriers, the EX28 spans an unusually broad 12 to 25 tonnes, the EX36 sits at 16 to 25 tonnes and the EX40 at 20 to 30 tonnes. That means a 20 tonne excavator is a legitimate carrier for the EX28, EX36 or EX40, and the choice between them is decided by material and by lift at radius rather than by the machine’s badge. A 20 tonne machine working at long reach over a fence line may be better served by the EX28 than the EX40 even though both are within class.

Grapple area against the material you handle

Area matters where bulk is the constraint and matters much less where mass is. Loose brash, lop and top and biomass fill a jaw long before they reach a carrier’s lift limit, so the EX36 and EX40 earn their extra area moving fewer, larger bundles. Clean roundwood is the opposite: a 0.40 m² jaw full of dense hardwood can exceed what the machine should be lifting at radius well before it is full, and the extra capacity has bought nothing but attachment weight. For sawlog work, precision, controlled closing and rotation are worth more than area, which is a large part of why the EX28 is the most frequently specified head across mixed Australian fleets.

Opening and stem size

Maximum opening rises from 1,641 mm on the EX25, through 1,632 mm on the EX28 and 1,928 mm on the EX36, to 2,137 mm on the EX40. Note that the EX28’s opening is fractionally narrower than the EX25’s despite the larger area, which is a reminder that these are different jaw geometries rather than one design scaled up. Opening governs the largest single stem or the widest bundle you can close on in one movement, and a head that will not close on the material you routinely handle turns every pile into a sorting exercise.

Saw capacity and where the real limit sits

Saw cut goes 600, 600, 650 and 700 mm across the four. That is a narrower spread than the weights suggest, and it is not usually where the buying decision lands. What separates the saw models is the combination of grapple area behind the bar and the carrier they sit on. Cutting a 600 mm stem is one thing; holding the resulting section under control and placing it is another, and the second is what the grapple behind the bar is for. The EX28 and EX36 also offer multiple saw motor displacements and a choice of 0.404 inch or 3/4 inch chain, so the saw can be matched to the carrier’s real auxiliary flow rather than assumed. A saw motor starved of flow cuts slowly and burns chains, so work through the hydraulic matching guide with measured flow figures.

The EX40 saw is a different architecture entirely

This deserves stating plainly because it changes the quote. The rigid forestry excavator grapple saw range covers the EX25, EX28 and EX36. The EX40 grapple saw appears only as a tiltrotator grapple saw or a tree-care grapple saw with a worm-drive positioning system, at approximately 1,180 kg in tiltrotator configuration with the tree-care version heavier. A tiltrotator brings its own control system, hydraulic requirements and cost, and a tree-care worm-drive head is built around a different kind of work again. Buying an EX40 saw is therefore a decision about positioning architecture, not simply about buying the biggest saw in the range. If what you want is a large rigid saw on a conventional hitch, the EX36 is the top of that range.

Rotation, and what it is worth

Rotation transforms placement work: orienting a stem into a chipper infeed, squaring logs onto a stack or aligning a section before lowering it all become single movements. On a saw it is not optional in practice, because the bar has to be presented to the piece at the right angle. On a grapple it is a genuine choice, and the weight and cost of the rotator have to earn their place against how repetitive the placement work is. See forestry grapple vs sorting grab for when that investment is justified at all.

The numbers that matter

Forestry grapples

Grapple saws

Neither the grapple capacity figures nor the saw cut figures are safe suspended-load ratings. The carrier lift chart at the working radius is, and operators should establish exclusion zones and follow applicable WHS procedures and manufacturer instructions.

Running more than one

Fleets that handle both timber and cutting work commonly pair a grapple and a saw rather than buying two of either. The usual pattern is a grapple one size larger than the saw on the same carrier class, because the grapple can use its capacity while the saw has to reserve boom capacity for the section it is holding out at radius. An EX28 saw with an EX36 grapple on a 20 tonne machine is a coherent pairing on that logic. Running two heads also means a quick coupler arrangement worth having, since the changeover happens several times a week rather than seasonally; see the quick couplers and changeover guide.

Cost logic

Illustrative only, with round hypothetical numbers. Assume a 20 tonne excavator loading brash for 500 hours a year. Assume an EX28 grapple averages 28 loads an hour and an EX36, with 29 per cent more area, averages 24 loads an hour of noticeably larger bundles, say 25 per cent more material per load. That is 28 units against 30 units of material an hour on the same machine, roughly a 7 per cent throughput gain, worth about 35 hours a year. At an assumed $250 an hour that is $8,750 of machine time, which is the figure the extra 220 kg of head and the price difference have to be tested against.

Now change the material to dense hardwood sawlog. Assume the carrier’s lift at working radius allows 1.8 tonnes of timber with the EX28 fitted and 1.58 tonnes with the EX36, because the head is 220 kg heavier. The larger jaw cannot be filled, every lift moves 12 per cent less, and the upgrade costs money and production at the same time. That reversal is the core of the EX sizing decision and it is decided by material density and working radius, not by the model number. Use the cost per unit calculator with your own cycle counts.

Decide with these facts in hand

• The carrier lift chart at your real working radius, with the machine configuration you actually run
• Attachment weight in the exact ordered configuration, with and without the rotator
• Bracket and quick hitch mass, quoted separately and added to the head
• Whether the material is bulk-limited (brash, biomass) or mass-limited (hardwood roundwood)
• Largest stem or bundle you must close on in one movement, against maximum opening
• For a saw: which architecture is quoted, rigid, tiltrotator or tree-care, in writing
• Saw motor displacement and chain pitch matched to measured auxiliary flow, plus case drain
• Rigid or swing-link mounting, and whether a rotator is genuinely needed
• Australian parts position for rotator service, tines, bars and chains

Frequently asked questions