Mountain Biking - Hub suggestions/ideas...please.

My wife has a mountain bike that she uses as a commuter.
It's a to the gym...around town, only when it's not raining kinda' bike.

I changed the tyres today.
And while at it, I noticed a not so good feeling in the spin in the HB-KM40 Shimano hubs.
I imagine that I could service them.
I could also imagine relacing to new hubs...:thumb:

What would be a smooth spinning upgrade in trems of MTB gear?

This wheel set would never see a rugged trail, let alone a jump,drop or rut.
Pure street...:rolleyes:

Am I asking for too much in terms of smooth expectations?
I'm a road cyclist with no idea what to expect...

Thanks

I would just take the hubs apart, throw in some new balls, and pack with Phil Wood grease.

Doesn't sound worth the trouble to do but what Ed suggested....try this http://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=105

let's define a few things, in terms of hassle and what's "worth it"...

rebuilding hubs can be seen as a PITA, but it's cheap and easy and quick compared to buying a new hubset and lacing them up

if you're lacing the new hubs to the old, used rims that came with your 400-level shimano hubs, that would be totally not worth it, as you won't likely build a better wheelset than what you have now

if you're lacing the new hubs to new rims, you could make yourself a great wheelset, but this would be far more expensive and more difficult than repacking/rebuilding the existing hubs

you could just buy a complete new wheelset. This would be almost zero hassle, and you can get good wheelsets cheap these days, but it's way more expensive than some new balls/grease.

me? I'd crack the old hubs open, pull em apart, see if the balls/races are badly scored, and if they look half-decent, i'd just clean everything out really good and repack with fresh grease. but then, i'm a cheapskate. most ppl think it isn't worth pulling a hub apart without putting new balls in there.

hth
-rob