That's not ridiculous at all. Marinating time could have been a bit longer, but are you using a cure, or just marinating for flavor? With a proper ratio of cure, 36 hours should be enough time. Texture checks during drying may be a bit more involved in order to accurately gauge dryness (I weigh pre-dried and post-dried to gauge the dryness). If you have marinated weight of the meat, then pull and weigh again when you think it's dry...I shoot for 48-52% weight loss, myself. Note that if the pieces are not uniform size/thickness the smaller pieces will dry faster. Up to one inch thick compared to 1/8-3/16" thick? Yeah, you're in for a long run in the dehydrator, but it's doable. I've made smoked/dried 3/8" thick pepper-steak jerky and it took about twice as long to dry as thinner strips would, so be prepared for, oh, maybe 3 times your normal drying time.
You're correct, however, if it's over-dry on the outside, the moisture will equalize over time, from inside to outside, even after it's packaged for storage. That's where pre/post dried weights are a great way to track your drying progress...I also use weights for cured heat-dried sausages.
Vacpack the cubes. That never fails to surface any moisture from my jerky within a couple of hours. It's a nice trick I use when when I've overdried my jerky a bit.
