I found I had to pull the lower ball joint and remove the knuckle, which made everything much easier to work on. Also on the rack and pinion models REMOVE THE TIEROD. The weight of the knuckle can ruin the beloved seal on the rack and ruin the rack. Its also easy to remove the tierod on the inboard end with the rack and pinion.
-Remove the boot
-flatten out the washer thats bent over
-unscrew the large part with 2 flat spots on it. Its not usually veyr tight, I've always been able to get it loose with a slip joint pliers.
-Done. You'll need to get a hose clamp to hold the inboard end of the boot on.

Also if you ever do need to drop the front differential housing, you don't need to drop the rack and pinion.

As far as new boots go, I found I could junkyard CV's for less than new boots. I swapped the whole CV at the inner as described in the link above.

-Mike