CV Joint Covers? Options

[CheesyLobster]

Hey guys,

I have been experiencing a cracking sound when I turn my wheel for about 6 months now. I am pretty sure that it is broken CV joint covers. Today I brought the cars in for an estimate and they quoted me 150 for each side, plus 2 hours labor, which comes out to about $600 for the whole job. I have a few questions that I was hoping someone could answer who has experience with this sort of thing:

-Is $600 a fair price?
-Should the whole axle assembly be replaced? I was thinking that they'd just do the boots but the mechanic said that it was only an extra $50 to do the whole thing (on the estimate they called it REMIN CV COMPL ASSY), and that no one just does the boots.
-How difficult of a job would this to be to do myself? How long would it take? If I do do it myself, where can I get the parts for cheep?

Thanks for the help guys!

[Tom_SS2]

if the covers/boots have been knackered for a while then the joints will be and will need replacing as the ball bearings etc will be worn, joints can be done in half an hour and can be bought for as little as £30 each and come with covers/boots, clips and grease. did one on mine the other day fairly easy job with the right tools, think the book time is 45mins each side.