My power steering fluid has seemed to be leaking for awhile so I checked under my car and found out that my steering gear boot has a huge tear in it. I know that if your CV boot is torn for awhile, you might as well replace the whole axle....so my question is, since it seems that my steering gear boot has been torn for a while, is it necessary to replace my whole steering gear aka rack and pinion, or can I just replace the boot?

Also, I am pretty good mechanically, but how much pain in the ass is it to change this on my own?

Thanks guys