Powerhand EX25 forestry grapple

The lightest EX, and why that is the whole argument

The EX25 is the smallest of Powerhand’s four EX forestry grapples and the only one sized for 8 to 12 tonne carriers. The EX28 starts at 12 tonnes, the EX36 at 16 and the EX40 at 20, so on a 10 tonne machine there is no real choice to argue about. The question worth asking is not whether the EX25 fits but what it costs you, because on a carrier this size the head and the timber are competing for the same few hundred kilograms of rated lift. The forestry grabs buying guide sets the family in context and the EX25 vs EX28 vs EX36 vs EX40 comparison lines the sizes up.

The same reasoning decides the other question buyers ask here. The EX25 grapple saw puts a 600 mm saw on the same 0.25 m² head, but at 651 kg rather than 400 kg. On a 10 tonne excavator that 251 kg is a large share of what the chart leaves for material at reach, so buy the saw only if cutting happens on most cycles. If the timber arrives sized, the grapple is the more productive tool precisely because it is lighter.

Reading 0.25 m² and 1,641 mm on a small carrier

The two headline figures answer different questions. Maximum opening, 1,641 mm, is how wide an object passes between the tine tips, so it governs the single large log or the tangled limb. Grapple capacity, 0.25 m², governs repetitive work, because on a pile it is the enclosed section that sets how much comes across per cycle, and for chipper feeding it is the figure that predicts productivity.

Worth noting for anyone cross-shopping: the EX25 opens 9 mm wider than the EX28, which carries its extra capacity in a deeper jaw. The tines are the genuine difference. Powerhand uses smaller-section solid Hardox here rather than the 50 mm tines fitted from the EX28 up, and that is a deliberate mass decision. What is given away is resistance to sustained abuse, which a 12 tonne carrier is not able to inflict in the first place.

Weight is published twice. The 323 kg base figure is a bare head on a fixed mount; 400 kg is the figure with rotator. On a small excavator that 77 kg increment is not a rounding error, so decide on the rotator from the work rather than from habit, and remember that the coupler or adaptor sits on top of whichever figure applies.

Working the chart: what 400 kg actually costs

Grapple capacity is a volume. It says nothing about what the boom can hold, because the carrier is suspending head, rotator, coupler and timber together at whatever radius the operator is working at.

Take an illustrative 10 tonne excavator whose chart shows 1,500 kg at the radius the work actually happens at, and an assumed 150 kg coupler. The head and coupler together consume 550 kg, or about 37 per cent of the rating, before a stick of timber is picked up. Around 950 kg remains. At an assumed 1,100 kg per cubic metre for green eucalypt that is roughly 0.86 cubic metres of solid wood.

Now test the head against it. Closed on 4 m logs, a 0.25 m² grapple encloses about a cubic metre of space, of which perhaps two thirds is timber once the gaps between stems are counted, so call it 0.65 cubic metres or about 720 kg. The head fills, with margin, which is exactly the outcome the EX25 is designed to produce. Push the logs to 5 m, or work at a longer radius where the chart reads 1,200 kg instead, and the arithmetic inverts: the carrier is now the limit and the operator is taking half grabs. Every figure above except the 400 kg is an assumption, so put your own machine through the lift capacity calculator and read the lift chart and attachment mass guide before committing.

Getting full grabs on council and chipper work

The EX25 is at home in council parks and urban vegetation work, in biomass and chipper operations built around compact chippers, and in storm damage and dangerous trees clean-up where access decides the carrier size. Brash is the material that suits it best, not because the head is weak but because brash is bulky and light, so the jaws fill long before the chart complains. Sawlogs reverse that, and the Australian hardwood guide explains why dense eucalypt shortens a safe bundle further than most operators expect.

Match the head to the chipper rather than to the excavator. A compact chipper kept fed continuously by a 10 tonne machine is a well-balanced pairing; the same machine feeding a large drum chipper is the bottleneck whatever grapple is fitted, and the answer there is a bigger carrier, not a bigger grab.

Where the EX25 stops

The limit shows up at the top of the carrier band. On a 12 tonne machine handling dense log bundles rather than vegetation, the EX28 offers 0.28 m² and 50 mm tines for 217 kg more with rotator, and its 12 to 25 tonne band means it stays useful as the fleet grows. Below 8 tonnes there is no EX grapple at all, and a general-purpose sorting grab is the usual substitute; the forestry grapple vs sorting grab comparison sets out what that costs in grip and durability.

Mounting, rotator and gripping pressure

These choices run across the whole EX grapple family and are worth settling once. Rigid mounting holds the head where the boom puts it, which suits chipper feeding and sorting where placement is precise and repeated. Swing-link lets the head hang and align itself with long timber, which suits repetitive stacking and truck loading. Rotator torque is the specification most often under-ordered: a rotator that turns a hanging empty head easily can stall turning a loaded one against a pile, and stalling under load is what wears it out. Ask for the rotator model, its rated torque and the auxiliary flow it needs, and confirm how gripping pressure is controlled so that high-value logs are not crushed and light brash is not dropped. The hydraulic matching guide covers the rotator circuit.

Pricing the wear items before you sign

Pins, bushes, cylinder seals and rotator seals are the recurring items, and the question to ask is not their price but where they are held in Australia. Ask as well how tines are repaired, because undocumented weld repairs on Hardox are a known problem on second-hand grabs and a sign of how a head was treated. Machinery Specialist is the Australian distributor, and the wear parts guide gives a pricing checklist.

Confirm before ordering

• Which weight applies to your build: 323 kg bare or 400 kg with rotator, then add the coupler
• Chart figure at your real working radius, with head and coupler deducted, before agreeing the head fills
• Rotator specified or deliberately declined, with its torque and flow demand in writing
• Rigid or swing-link decided from the work, not from what is in stock
• Gripping pressure control suited to both sawlogs and light brash
• Compact chipper feed opening checked against the bundle a 0.25 m² head presents
• Pins, bushes, cylinder and rotator seals priced with Australian stock location
• Tine repair procedure documented, and a transport stand quoted

Frequently asked questions