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!

[vile_v]

Cardone CV axle are actually pretty decent and that sounds like awesome price!

The only thing you need other than the CV axle is new transmission fluid (good chance to upgrade) just tell the shop to use your choice of transmission fluid. (3 quarts of 75w-90) Alot of people here like to use penzoil syncromesh.

You also need inner transmission seals for both sides. They are about 10 dollars or so from Toyota. PLEASE BUY TOYOTA BRAND. It will save you lots of headache because nothing fits the same as OEM.