well.... the problem was...
 

my NEW axle shaft. Twice. Apparently both the original and the replacement axle with "new" CV joints both had at least one bad joint. After replacing both axle assemblies with new, my car drives acceptably, although there is still a hint of vibration at around 80ish, it doesn't feel like it's going to self destruct anymore.

Anyone want to buy a pair of good rear axles? I have one that was new from Pelican about a year/10K miles ago, and one that was on the car when I bought it that I saved "just in case." Had I put that back on when the vibes started, I might not have just dropped way too much $$$ on yet more stuffs.

Let this be a lesson to you.

a) if it's not actually broken, leave it alone. (after I lost one CV instead of just replacing the one axle, I replaced both. I thought it was good PM.)

b) Don't buy the cheap axles (after buying the one from Pelican to replace the actual busted one, I bought the other one from an online place in FL for about $100 less.)

Anyway, I seriously do have two good axles, although I'd reboot and repack the old one. Make me an offer I can't refuse. If anyone wants me to go back and retrieve the one with the bad CV I can do that too. You can have that f**king thing, it's only got a couple hundred miles on it.

nate