Powerhand EX40 forestry grapple

The trap this size sets

The EX40 is the largest EX forestry grapple, above the EX36, EX28 and EX25, and at 1,091 kg with rotator it is the only one over a tonne. That mass is the subject of this page, because it creates a failure mode the smaller heads do not have: on the wrong carrier, the machine runs out of lift before the jaws run out of room. A grapple that can never be filled is not a bigger grapple, it is a heavier one. The forestry grabs buying guide covers the family and the EX25 vs EX28 vs EX36 vs EX40 comparison sets them side by side.

If the head also has to cut, the EX40 grapple saw shares the 0.40 m² capacity and 2,137 mm opening with a 700 mm saw, but only in tiltrotator and tree-care configurations rather than a rigid build, which changes weight, hydraulics and price.

How the trap works

Think of every purchase at this size as buying two things: enclosed volume and the mass required to enclose it. Both scale, but the payload the carrier has left does not. Between the EX36 and the EX40 the jaw gains about 11 per cent of capacity and 209 mm of opening, while the head gains 254 kg with rotator. On a 30 tonne carrier that trade is easy. On a 20 tonne one, the extra 254 kg comes directly out of the timber allowance at reach, so the buyer pays for 0.40 m² and then works the head at the fill level an EX36 would have reached anyway, while carrying the additional mass on every swing.

The diagnostic is simple and it is worth doing before the order rather than after. Work out, from your own chart at your real working radius, the mass of timber you can carry. Convert that to a volume of the material you actually handle. Then compare it with 0.40 m². If the answer is a fraction of the jaw, you have found the trap.

Where the boundary usually falls

Solid roundwood is where it bites, because dense timber reaches the chart limit at a fraction of the enclosed volume. Bulky brash is where it does not, because the material is light enough that the jaw fills first and the 2,137 mm opening genuinely pays: on whole stems and springy long roundwood, that extra reach is also what keeps a bundle stable through the swing rather than letting it spill. So the honest answer on carrier matching is that the EX40 suits a 20 tonne machine on brash and a 25 to 30 tonne machine on logs, and the published band alone will not tell you which situation you are in. Long-reach booms shift the boundary further still, since the chart falls away fastest exactly where these heads are used. Run your numbers through the lift capacity calculator and the lift chart and attachment mass guide, and allow for Australian hardwood density, which puts eucalypt at the heavy end of the range the chart assumes.

Production work at this size

The EX40 is a bulk tool for high-volume biomass and chipper operations feeding substantial chippers, plantation thinning and re-establishment landings where whole stems are bunched and loaded, and mining and pipeline corridors and solar and wind farm site preparation where cleared timber is moved in bulk against a program deadline.

Measure the right thing on those jobs. Cycles per hour and tonnes per cycle tell you whether the head is earning its mass; re-grabs tell you whether the jaw geometry suits the material. An operation that records plenty of cycles but low tonnes per cycle is carrying an under-filled head, and that is a purchasing result, not an operator problem. The head is also the top of the ladder: if the timber routinely exceeds what a 30 tonne carrier can lift with an EX40 fitted, the answer is a larger carrier class, because there is no larger EX grapple.

When a smaller head is the better buy

At the 20 tonne end of the band, or on any long-reach configuration, the EX36 leaves 254 kg more for the timber and still opens to 1,928 mm, which is enough jaw for most brash work. For clean sawlog sorting a head this wide obstructs the sightline and slows fine placement, and a smaller EX is the more accurate tool. The case for the EX40 is a 25 tonne or larger carrier, short to standard reach, and material handled in genuine bulk.

Specifying the head

Mounting and rotator options follow the family and are described on the EX25 page, but rotator torque deserves more scrutiny here than anywhere else in the range. A full 0.40 m² jaw of wet hardwood turned against a pile is the load that stalls an undersized rotator, and repeated stalling is what shortens its life. Ask for the rotator model, its rated torque and the auxiliary flow it needs, and confirm tine width and gripping pressure control for your material mix. The hydraulic matching guide covers the circuit.

Transport, wear and support

Over a tonne with rotator, the head changes the float plan as well as the lift plan. An engineered transport stand with identified lifting points and hose protection is a requirement rather than an option, and the combination of carrier and attachment needs checking against your permit and float arrangements, as the transport and mobilisation guide sets out. Price pins, bushes, cylinder seals and rotator seals, and ask about tine repair and replacement stock. Machinery Specialist is the Australian distributor, and the wear parts guide provides a pricing checklist.

Confirm before ordering

• Timber mass available at your real working radius, converted to a volume of your material and compared with 0.40 m²
• That comparison repeated for a long-reach boom if one is fitted
• 1,091 kg with rotator (875 kg bare) plus coupler used in the calculation, not the bare figure
• Evidence that the EX36 would not reach the same tonnes per cycle for 254 kg less
• Rotator model and rated torque checked against a full jaw of wet hardwood
• Gripping pressure control and auxiliary flow confirmed for the carrier
• Engineered transport stand, lifting points and float arrangement priced
• Pins, bushes, cylinder and rotator seals, and tine stock, held in Australia

Frequently asked questions