My wife's 98 Sportage has a cv joint thumping on the right side. I was wondering if anyone had changed one and if anyone had any tips or anything weird I might expect to run into?

Have you ever done a CV Joint before on another car? It isn't all that dissimilar. I would always recommend a new half-shaft. If it is making noise, then it is definately due. If you need help with the steps I could help.

You'll have to remove the lower A-Arm ball joint and steering tie-rod end. I find a pickle fork works well but be careful not to tear any rubber boots. There are also knuckle busters which clamp in on the sides and a bolt through the top pushes the tie-rod out of the hole. Once that is apart, have a drain pan under the engine and pull the half-shaft out. You will lose a bit of ATF (Dextron III) when you remove the shaft. Pop in the new one, tighten everything up. Add some ATF... drive around and recheck the fluid level... top off.

Good Luck! :)