The XT hub on my back wheel has cried enough but although old and scratched the Arch rim is still straight and there is no damage to the spokes. Is it worth getting a new XT hub and rebuilding with the exsisting rim and spokes or just give up and get a new wheel?
A new XT hub costs around £30

I’ve done it to a few wheels. If the hubs dimensions are similar or the same (as in your case), and you do your own wheel building (easy with the Late Sheldon Brown’s guide) then why not.

Its much easier to do a rim swap than a hub swap, but yeah no reason why not

I’d do it with a straight notubes rim, seeing as they aren’t exactly cheap.

I’d be tempted to leave the hub shell where it is, but transfer the bearings, freehub, etc from a new hub into it. Cheap and hassle free compared to a wheel build – XT hubs can be had very cheaply on CRC and the like.

Good thinking , hg. There is only one bearing surface that is actually integral to the hub the others are on the axle or the freehub.

I’d not do that. The cups in the hub will be worn, accelerating wear of your new bits. You can press them out of the new hub and fit them to your old hub, but it’s a real pain, requires a press of some sorts, and the risk of fudging it up is high.

However unlikely, it might be the original cups are A1, only you will know, in which case go for it, good idea.

I’d say it’s less faff to swap all the internals between hubs (cups included) than to unbuild and rebuild the wheel. By quite a margin too!