severe vibration

[dk10658]

I unbolted the strut at the bottom and tried to see if i could push the shaft inward, it did not move, also squeezed the inner boot to see if i could feel anything that may have come loose from the joint, did not feel anything so i put it back together,also tried holding the inner joint and moving the shaft, no movement there, although there is play from the shaft in the housing, not much but there is play there, not sure if that is normal, going to test drive the car and hopefully the vibration has gone away, also going to buy and install a new bearing plate and spring seat for the right side strut and remove the strut that i bought at the salvage yard, then reinstall the original one i replaced, because it seems the ride height of the car has dropped, have to drive up on wood blocks in order to get the floor jack under the car now, didn't have that problem before, if i still have the vibration, I'm going to replace the left side axle shaft, doesn't look that hard, looks like i have to remove a bolt from the outside of the spindle and disconnect the strut and maybe steering linkage, hopefully i am right.

[dk10658]

after replacing the bearing plate on my original struts, i removed the struts i purchased from the salvage yard, reinstalled my original struts and took it for test drive at speeds up to 90 mph and no vibration, now i have no idea as to what would have caused the vibration, but it is gone and the car even sits higher with my original struts back in, now i found out i need to replace the lower control arms( both front and rear bushing are worn out) so i can get the front end aligned.