Ford Repair: 91 escort cv joints, cv joints, special tools

Question
Dear Steve-
I have a crappy Escort and the cv joints are clicking when you cut the wheel left or right. What happens when they fail, does the wheel fall off or seize up?Is this a difficult backyard repair, I'm fairly good on repairs. Please try to help.

Thank you.

Answer
Randall-

  Well...it depends on the type of failure.  Either of your guesses could be correct depending on the type of failure.  Sometimes the whole halfshaft can come out and sometimes the wheel will seize.  As for replacing them yourself...while it's certainly possible it's not something I'd really recommend unless you've done it before or have someone around to show you the right way to do it.  On a scale of 1-10 in difficulty, I'd give it a 6 or 7 probably...but it's not so much hard as it is really time consuming and it requires some special tools.  Hope this helps.

Steve