I've been there plenty of times, and it does suck. Yes disc brakes are easier to work on, but the drum brakes on a TJ are a long way from rocket science. The point I was trying to make was that ease of replacement shouldn't be a deciding factor in doing a disc conversion. I believe they work better for the serious offroader but for the occasional soft trail and daily driving I think drums will work fine. I'm not trying to sway anybody away from a disc conversion and hurt anybody's business, and I'm sure you get that. From what I've seen you don't seem like the guy to try and sell a big brake kit to somebody that DD's their jeep on 30" tires.
In my world, ease of replacement is the only reason to convert. What everyone has missed so far in the "what is better offroad" aspect is the t-case and lockers. The front and rear axles are connected through the t-case. The tires are connected side to side through the lockers. Locked in 4wd, you can take the rear brakes off and throw them away. The fronts will lock all 4. Not that you should but an illustration of how it all works. Except for the odd bit of muck and whatnot, there isn't a lot of difference in stopping ability overall on or offroad between the two.
They are dead silent. If they aren't, something else is wrong, find it. We have BMB for the back disc brakes.Anyways, I'm looking to do front brakes on my 97. They work fine and they were just done about 5,000 miles ago but the cheap pads squeak so bad. How are the black magic brakes when it comes to noise? Also, what do you sell for the rear shoes? Are they a black magic formula?