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!

[Euphoria]

Axles are fairly straight forward, the only thing that usually causes trouble is the side that the shaft goes straight into the box as sometimes it gets stuck and needs to be pryed out. New seals on both sides (not really necessary unless they get damaged) and new fluid would be a good idea too, also make sure you torque the axle nut (big 30mm bolt) as if its not done properly it will be bad on your wheel bearings later down the track, most diy guides never bring this up.