The knowledge comes from having every single male in my family being into lifted/big trucks and there being an unspoken competition on who comes up wiht the nices/biggest/best truck. My cousin, who is practically made of money, has spent over 60k on his f-150. I have grown up helping all my family lift or modify their trucks, so I've been into the sport/hobby for as long as I remember. Yes I can't drive (leagally, but going a mile down the road to ride at the farm doesn't hurt anyone), but by the time I get my liscense, I plan for the X to be finished so that i never have to worry about being carless.
About the tires, do you really hate the that much? I mean, the wet/mud preformance doesn't bother me, but the snow and dry (I'm pretty sure you said everything...) does. I haven't tested these tires on wet rocks, or in the snow...but the 36x13.5's on my dad's Z71 worked great on dry rocks and I know these tires kick ass in the sand.
But, considering that you seem to have driven on them more than I, and have used them in a little more of the terrain than I have with my father's truck, what would you suggest? I really want to go wide, draining air and re-pumping the tires back up is a pain even if you have a compressor, so I need something wide to float over the sand at the OBX. Also, I hate the "flop, flop, flop, ...." sound of most mud terrain tires. The Dick Cepek Fun Countries rode smooth and were quiet just as I wish for the tires I get to be, but they don't come in the width I would need at 35" tall. The MT Baja's look almost identical, but with more sidewall bite, to the FCs. Wouldn't that mean very similar preformance?
