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Jadema - thanks for checking in and lending some technical expertise to the delima. (was a controls engineer for an aerospace company at one point in my career too)

To your point - when the airbag compresses there will be a transient pressure spike. It will be interesting to see if the regulator follows it and what rate it will release pressure then try to refill it. If it does respond, I'm wondering what the hysteresis is in the regulator and if it will find the same pressure set point.

The check valve seems like it will add a bit of complexity to the system, as you've described it. I'm wondering if an orifice in the line might be enough to damp the pressure pulse to the regulator and keep it from reacting.

The big Class A motorhome folks with airbag suspensions sometimes use an auxiliary air tank mounted near the bag to increase the volume (and decrease the spring rate) and decrease the amplitude of pressure spikes to smooth out the ride. They call them a 'ping' tank and typically they're about a gallon in volume. This might tame the regulator response and give me a little better ride too.

It is fun to speculate, but I'm going to do what JoeDoh says and 'drive it and see what happens' (my first boss had a sign in his office that said 'there comes a time in every project when you have to fire the engineers and make something' - I guess it's time to stop thinking and try it!)

Stalk less and post more! Thanks for chiming in.

Phil