Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Ok my frame was done yesterday and I have already built the walls. This being my first teardrop build I missed the clearance for the torsion arm over the sidewall by about a 1/4 inch. My sidewall will cover the frame. I have a Flexride axle rated at 2000 lbs that was not derated at all. I estimate my frame to be about 300 lbs. and the tear to come in around 1000 lbs or less.

Question 1 - I see on the Southwest Wheel website that the arm will travel about 3 inches from unloaded to "bump". If I put the arms at 22 degrees I will gain about 2 inches of travel space for the arms. Is this enough since I will not come close to the weight limit of the axle? I estimate teh tear to be no more than 1300 lbs loaded down for travel.

Question 2 - I have three options:

1-carve out my sidewall for the torsion arm travel - I am not opposed to this, but don't know how to seal the bottom edge of the aluminum skin at the carve out.
2-I can raise the sidewall with 2x4 framing instead of 1x4. This in combination with the arm angle adjustment comes close to the 3 inch travel number, but leaves part of the frame of the trailer exposed. I think I am ok with this and am leaning this way.
3 - My axle is bolted the the frame right now so I coule verify that the positioning was correct. I can have a spacer put in between the bracket and the frame when it is welded. This is a close second as a choice.

The tongue on the trailer tongue that is adjustable so I can adjust my ride height of the trailer very easily.

I appreciate any thoughts or suggestions. Thank you.

I had the same situation as you, but myDexter axle is not adjustable on it. So, I went with your first option in question #2. I don't have a better picture, but you can see the notch in this photo:

Looks pretty good

I have the same axles you do and chose the carve out method. I painted, though, and did not have the problem with the aluminum you described.

Perhaps you can seal the area with a couple of coats of epoxy before covering with the aluminum. If not epoxy, I think, the evil black stuff many of us choose to coat the bottom of our tears would work well.

I doesn't have to be pretty, as will not be seen.