Champion Big-Lock Tee - Junction and Reduction, Couplings Included (73mm to 220mm)

A tee is where a Champion Big-Lock main becomes a branch, and on a plant header that decision gets made a handful of times and then lived with for twenty years. This listing carries all three Big-Lock tee types, and every one is supplied with its couplings included.

• Junction tee, 73mm through 220mm, all three legs the same size. The full-size branch.
• Reduction tee with a female NPT branch, 73mm through 168mm mains with 3/4 in through 2-1/2 in FNPT outlets. This is how a large aluminum main feeds a threaded drop, a filter regulator station or the start of a Quick-Lock branch run.
• Reduction tee with a grooved tube branch, 90mm through 220mm mains reducing to 73mm through 168mm. The branch is itself Big-Lock pipe.

Choose the tee you need from the dropdown above.

Model Selection Chart

Junction tees, equal three-way

Reduction tees, female NPT branch

All part numbers carry the XCBL- prefix. Note that Champion prints the 90mm x 3/4 in part as XCBL-RT-90-075WC, without the F that every other female reduction tee carries; we list it exactly as the book prints it and have asked the factory to confirm. There is no 220mm female NPT reduction tee in the current price list; for a threaded branch off a 220mm main, use a grooved reduction tee down to 73mm and a threaded adapter, or ask us.

Reduction tees, grooved tube branch

Champion catalogs a 273mm (10 in) junction tee as consult factory with no part number printed. Call or email and we will quote it.

Which Tee Does the Branch Actually Want?

The reduction tee with a female NPT branch is the one most plants need most often. It is how a 4 in or 6 in aluminum header hands air down to something threaded: a drop leg, an isolation valve, a filter regulator station, or a Quick-Lock threaded connector that starts a branch run in smaller pipe. Buying the branch size you actually need here saves a bushing and a leak path.

The grooved tube branch version is for a real secondary main, where the branch is itself Big-Lock pipe carrying serious volume to another part of the building.

The junction tee is a full-size three-way split, which on a main usually means a loop closing or a header splitting between two halves of a plant.

Take Every Branch Off the Top

Water in a compressed air main runs along the bottom. A branch taken off the underside of a header is a funnel pointed at whatever it feeds, and on a 6 in main carrying the whole plant that is a lot of water with somewhere to go.

Take branches off the top of the main, pitch the header slightly toward a defined low point, and put a drop leg with a condensate drain at that point. The upstream fix is a properly sized air dryer; the piping only decides where the water that is already there ends up.

Couplings Are Included on Tees

Every tee in this listing ships with its couplings. Across the Big-Lock range the rule is: elbows, street elbows, junction tees and reduction tees include couplings; reducers do not, and need two each; and every joint between two sticks of tube needs one straight union coupling. That single distinction is where most Big-Lock take-offs go wrong.

Shared Technical Specifications

Specification note. Champion's price list publishes description, part number and list price for the Big-Lock range and nothing else: no pressure rating, no temperature band, no weights and no dimensions, and we have not found a Big-Lock datasheet that supplies them. This listing states only what Champion publishes rather than estimating. Ask us and we will source anything further from the factory before you order.

Ideal Applications

Branching a plant loop header into departments, feeding a Quick-Lock branch system off a Big-Lock main, taking a threaded drop to a filter regulator station or a machine, splitting a compressor room manifold between two halves of a building, and closing a loop back on itself.

Building a Complete Big-Lock System

• Big-Lock aluminum pipe, 73mm to 273mm
• Straight union couplings, one per tube joint
• 90 and 45 degree elbows and street elbows, couplings included
• Threaded adapters and reducers
• Plug caps
• Quick-Lock aluminum pipe, 14mm to 63mm for the branches a reduction tee feeds

Ordering Notes

• All Big-Lock products and accessories are NO CANCEL / NO RETURN, per Champion's current price list.
• Freight: freight collect from Huntersville, NC 28078 or Las Vegas, NV 89113.
• Shipping weights: Champion publishes no weight for any Big-Lock fitting, so no catalog weight is carried on these variants. A 220mm tee is a substantial casting; we quote freight on the complete package.
• Photography: Champion publishes no photograph of the Big-Lock tees, so this listing is deliberately shown without an image rather than with a stand-in from another manufacturer's grooved range.

Why Buy from Air Compressor Store

Air Compressor Store is an authorized Champion Pneumatic distributor. Where the branches go, and how big they are, is the decision that sets what the system can do later. Send us the floor plan and our compressed air engineers will place the tees, size the branches, decide where Big-Lock hands over to Quick-Lock, and quote the whole package at no charge.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do the tees come with couplings?

Yes, all of them. The part numbers end WC for with couplings. Reducers are the exception in this range and need two couplings each.

Why is the 168mm junction tee more than double the 115mm?

$1,851 against $750 at list, and the 220mm is $3,654. Equal tees scale hard with diameter because the casting carries full bore on all three legs. If the branch does not need full size, a reduction tee is both cheaper and better practice.

Can I get a 2 in threaded branch off a 220mm main?

Not as a single catalogued part; the female NPT reduction tees stop at a 168mm main. Options are a grooved reduction tee from 220mm down to 73mm followed by a threaded adapter, or a grooved saddle clamp outlet on the 220mm main. Ask us which suits the layout.

What is the F in the part numbers?

It marks the female NPT branch. Every female reduction tee uses the pattern RT-size-branchFWC except the 90mm x 3/4 in, which Champion prints as RT-90-075WC with no F. We treat that as a typo in the book, list it as printed, and have flagged it with the factory.

Should the branch be the same size as the drop it feeds?

Size the branch off the demand it serves, not off the main. A 6 in header feeding one machine wants a 1 in or 1-1/2 in branch, not a 4 in one. Oversizing the branch wastes money on the fitting and the pipe behind it.

Can I add a tee to a main that is already installed?

Yes, and that is a real advantage of the grooved system over welded steel. Isolate and depressurize the section, undo the couplings either side, cut the pipe, groove the new ends with the Champion grooving tool and couple the tee in. For a branch you do not want to cut the main for, Champion also catalogs grooved saddle clamp outlets.