Help required re. Freehub body on 7 speed XT730

Spot of bother, and being a bit of a Cherry regards maintenance I'm a bit confused.

My rear hub, a XT M730 (7 speed) sounds a bit 'grindy', not smooth and no clicks, I guess the bearings are a goner.
Now, any ideas what i need to do? Change the 'freehub Body'?
Would that solve it?

if so, what type of Freehub body would be required? any ideas? links etc?

And to change it?

Any help would be most appreciated

Your's Humbly, Ibbs


ps. I have a HG 7 speed cassette - what were the lightest 7 speed cassettes available that i could perhaps replace mine with?

First spin the axle backwards - if that's grindy it would suggest the axle bearings.
If the freehub body has lots of play (sideways wobble) then it would need replacement.
If the freehub doesn't ratchet or rotate smoothly then it needs replacement

Dismantle the hub. If the races are worn only on the RHS, then you need to replace the FH body. Any 7 speed one will fit and I don't think there is any significant difference between them in weight or seals. Many early ones like M730 cannot take an 11T cog, so swapping to a later STX one is handy anyway. If the bearing races are worn on the LHS, then the hub body is junk, sadly.

In addition to what hamster said, I actually put an 8 speed STX RC freehub body onto my 7 speed XT hub with no problems, I had to re-dish the wheel a little bit, so if you're not comfortable with that, let your LBS do it for you.

Thanks guys I will check and diagnose when I get home.
Also I see CRC doing StX 7 speed hubs

The only way to find out what you need is.
A) take it apart, you'll need cone spanners (I have X-tools of CRC), undo the non-drive side and pull the axle out and bearings. To take apart you may get away with normal spanner on the end nuts, to put back together you will need the cone spanner though.
B) take the large plastic caps out the feehub body (they pop out).
C) clean everything up and inspect the balls, the races and cones.
D) Spin freehub body and see how that sounds.

then you'll know what is worn, damaged or just needs some free grease. other than that it's all just guess work.

(7 speed would be M732, not M730, and the caps will have grease port in them, if you have a grease gun you could try injecting in them, but sounds like it's past that stage.)