Hi Allen,
Thank you, I'm glad my little thread has been helpful to you Sir. I did the same thing by reading everything I could before starting.
My axle is 56" and the width of the trailer body is 57". The axle shafts extend enough to move the cranks out for clearance. I did go with regular non-offset wheels. Everything clears perfectly with plenty of room. The axle is a 2,000 pound axle. My buddy who built the chassis forgot to add the 'de-rated' to the order. I've done some research and it seems like the de-rating is on paper anyway. For this design, a 2,000 lb axle works fine. The trailer is a little over 1,400 lbs dry and we are packing very light. With the trailer brakes towing has been very easy, smooth and she tracks beautifully. I saw another Honda Element with a transmission cooler at the Dam Gathering that was towing a Camp Inn. Looked like a great idea so we added one too as a precaution.
A few things I would do differently to save weight. I would use lighter 2" steal for the frame than we did. You could easily shave 100 lbs off and still have a strong chassis. The tongue box would be made of 1/2" plywood sides and 1/4" everywhere else; maybe even 1/8". I'd use .040 aluminum for the roof and use seems instead of the .063. For the side walls I'd stick frame instead of the 3/4" MDO. My guess is that you could shave about 2-300 lbs off and still be way strong enough.
I hope this all makes sense. What I've taken away from building our teardrop is if you take your time and ask for help here on the forum when you get stuck, eventually, you will be the proud owner of a wonderful little trailer. You can do it!!!
All the Best,
Dave