Correct "O" moondo
The more compression valving you have the bigger the impacts can be before you start bottoming out your suspension. Yes more uptravel is great, but thats really hard to do with leaf springs. Typically that just adds for lift. However what most guys dont understand is that valving is really for high speed and the slow speed stuff is controlled by the piston. The only thing you need to be careful of when adding compression dampening is that if you add to much, then small high speed bumps can start feeling stiff. At that point you start getting into flutter stacks to fix things. And thats a lot of off and on with the shocks.
Think of shocks like this, they are speed sensitive with the valving. The harder and faster you push them the more they resist. More compression valving make the shock harder to compress at speed. While rebound controls how fast the spring will return to ride height, the less you have the quicker it returns. This is why if you dont have enough rebound your truck will float like an old Caddy. High speed desert needs high compression and low rebound. Just dont go so low with the rebound that if floats and then you know you're in the sweet spot.
Large poly bump stop bushings are nice, but the best is still the air bump. So if you want to keep your low stance and beable to plow over stuff at a decent speed, (IMO) you need air bumps. If you do both you'll be amazed. By the way Marlins KOH rig typically replaces their leaf springs after each race. By doing this they can also run the spring a bit past max compression to aid in dampening. They dont need it to last longer than one race.
