Hitches, tongues, couplers, jacks, chains.... What???

Are we twins? Sharing a brain? Ha, my thoughts exactly. We can do this!
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Your hitch looks good to me. Has it pulled without issue. Does it have a locking capacity? What is the condition of the jack and handle? Does it go up and down without issue? Those are the things we have inspected on our trailer and they both failed, so we have to have a new front welded on. I do know that people have the frames spray painted/ powered coated. I assume you are doing that.

Your chains look O.K. are they long enough to criss cross under the hitch if it falls off the ball? We criss cross out chains to provide a catch area in case of an accident. That may mean adding longer ones.

Does your trailer have leaf springs? Are they in good condition? Do you have power brakes? Do you want power breaks?

All of these things above are things we would do while the frame is exposed.

I hope that helps. Thats all I can think off.

My observations from your photos are (1) the front outrigger is bent out of alignment and needs to be straightened or replaced; (2) the jack has been "Mickey Moused" and I would replace it. That may be difficult, as the person who did the "Mousing" welded the jack onto the formerly perfect coupler. They probably did it to accomplish raising the jack so it wouldn't drag. Many different jacks are manufactured and you need the correct one for your trailer that raises it high enough that it there is no danger of it draging. There is no direct replacement for your Shasta, and originals are hard to come by. originals are bolted to the coupler using 4 bolts, whereas all of the replacements have a 3 bolt mounting plate. The replacement I like is the Bulldog 155033 which has a 15" lift and raises and mounts high enough that it won't drag. If you can't get the jack off without ruining the coupler, you may have to replace it also. The local utility trailer dealer in my area did one for me and only charged $30 labor plus the about $80 for the jack and coupler. They can also supply new safety chains and install. (3) You can remove the old equalizer hitch brackets if you don't have the rest of the parts. If you do use an equalizer hitch, new brackets will come with it and they are a better design then what you have. I do recommend that you tow with an equalizer hitch as it is safer and will eliminate sway.

Thank you very much azshastanut ; exactly the type of information I needed to know.  Yes, I could tell that the first outrigger on the frame itself was bent up a little, as well as the smaller part that spans between the tongue (not sure what that part is called?).  Also, what would the other parts look like that go to the equalizer hitch?  

Hi Theresa, The 1" angle that you are talking about is where a single propane tank sits. There are two of them and you could actually remove them since you have dual propane tanks. Incidently, I have the following Shasta's; two 59 Airflyt's; a 59 Deluxe, and a 61 Airflyte. I have been shotgunning on these up until about a month ago when I decided I needed to concentrate on one at a time. I am working exclusively on one of the 59 Airflytes. I hope to have it ready to go to the Spooktacular Rally in Tucson October 20th. We also have two 1957 Kenskill 16T's. One of them has been in my wife's family since new but left outside in an almond orchard un-attended for about 20 years prior to its rescue four years ago. Fortunately nobody else in the family wanted it and I saw the potential. It is'nt finished, but it made its debute at last years Spooktacular and we had a blast. The equalizer parts starting from your tow vehicle would be the draw bar which goes into your vehicles hitch. The draw bar has your ball mounted to it and has a left and right attachment point for a long steel bar which go back to the two brackets mounted on your frame rails. I have not seen brackets like yours before so i don't know how the bars attach. Our Kenskill came with the original Ezalift set up installed by the dealer in 1957 and the literature came with the trailer. The bars on mine have a short heavy chain on the end which attaches to the bracket and is pulled up under tension and locked into place with a foot long tool. I purchased a new assembly from some folks who sold their trailer and was fortunate to see it on craigslist an hour after they listed it for $125.00. That was about a year ago and the new assembly was exactly the same as my my old one with one addition of a sway bar and ball mounts on the new unit. Some people are foregoing the equalizer bars and just using the sway bar and are reporting improvement in stability and sway control. There are three manufacturers of equalizers and they are all about the same design and perform the same. Prices are all over the board, but you can buy on line brand new for about $250 or less. I probably would not buy a used set-up that had seen heavy long use as they do wear. Hope this helps. You're a ways from needing sway control at this time , so watch for the right deal. Gary

One other thing i forgot , equalizers come in different trailer weight capacities. The one you would need is the lightest which I think is 6,000 pound, but don't quote me on that. The lightest unit made is actually far greater then is needed for the weight of an Airflyte.

Hi Theresa… everything azshastanut is advising is correct, esp. the part about the "outriggers" being an essential part of the foundation for the cabin components you are going to attach. The frame on my Mobile Scout, when exposed during rebuild, was slightly bent so I had a shop add another steel angle outrigger just forward of the wheel wells. Welded and with tap screws. They were very experienced with these travel trailer frames and knew just where to reenforce. Most of the rest of your concerns, leaf springs, brakes, axle and coupler/jack can be addressed even after you start or even finish your rebuild. I agree with azshastanut, that you can definitely salvage the coupler and get a new jack to mount after removing the scary rigged one. In reality the much older couplers are worth saving for the simple reason that the steel is much better than something you might buy for cheap at eTrailer. If it's lasted 30, 40, 50 years, it'll remain solid for an even longer time, barring any demands put on it beyond its design capacity. But prepping your steel frame and running gear lays a good foundation for the success of your trailer and you're smart for thinking about all of this.