Axle wrap on the front wouldn't be an issue from removing leaves except possibly under heavy braking. I doubt it would be noticable, because the leverage the axle has on the springs isn't changing. (Like it would with the addition of blocks.) I don't see the potential downsides out weighing the cost (free) of removing a few leaves from the front, if you don't like it you can put it back the way it was and be out no money. Then you can look into other options like a dropped axle. If you put a dropped axle in, it will decrease ground clearance by how ever much drop it has, may or may not matter to you...
