Phromethius

I'm quite pissed at the moment. I have only weekends, hand tools (sortof access to a cordless impact) and very little money to work with and finally got all my CEL codes cleared and more importantly fixed.
I had noticed that I probably need an alignment done soon so I decided to check out some other things that could possibly be the cause of my "loose" steering. After researching several options I went ahead and jacked up my front end tonight and found a list of things I was not prepared for:

1. Drivers side CV axle only had half a boot (longways)

2. Checked outer tie rods for steering issue and they were fine however, Inner tie rods on both sides had completely torn boot covers as well. Did not feel any excessive play though. /shrug

3. Drivers side Lower Control Arm looked to have a torn funky ball joint (slight steering play culprit?)

Now I was prepared to save for a lower control arm job but I did not expect the inner tie rods and the CV axle. Now for my questions.

Could just one axle be changed or is is necessary to change out both CV axles at once, (passenger side is perfectly fine from last replacement, Boot is intact and in good shape)

Can Inner tie rod boot covers be changed or is that the same as replacing the entire steering rack anyways? (Fluid levels on Power steering are normal)

If I choose to do the lower control arm done at a shop would I be saving Labor by doing all three at once? LCA, inner tie rods, CV axle?

I just feel like I can maybe tackle the LCA myself but not sure about the CV axle. Kevlo has a pretty good DIY on steering rack but hot damn that's pretty involved too. My last question is can I tackle this in stages and would that be worth it? And what would be the suggested priority? The car is driving fine, I do not feel it is at a point of being unsafe on the road but I know that is simply a matter of time. Thanks Org.

deathwobble

iTrader: (1)

You can replaced just the inner tie rod boots. Only downside is there might be some junk caught in the tie rod joint itself and that my wear them out....maybe I just replaced my boots and figured ill deal with the inner tie rods if I have to.CV axle can be put off. If its not clicking when turning it will most likely live a bit longer.doing all three together most shops will cut you some kind of slack. But it still wont be cheap. With the inner tie rod boots get the alignment done afterwards. The outer tie rods have to come off to get the boots on. So you may as well.
As for difficulties.
All are pretty easy aside from dealing with rust not letting stuff move, if it were me id probably tackle the tie rod boots if I were to do a little at a time

deathwobble

iTrader: (1)

Also just one axle can be change.

deathwobble

iTrader: (1)

And the inner tie rod boots do not require any moving of the rack itself.

Sorry I tried to edit and put this in my first comment but it wont let me do that right now.