Yes I agree, in those sentences the "it" was unnecessary, there are of course sentences where "it " is necessary also. Such as, I love it, or It was nice to see you. Where is it? but your sentence, "I appreciate it that you try", while understandable is awkward, try making your sentences as simple and straghtforward as possible, such as, "Thank you for trying".
I add to what my friends said that it is not proper to use (it )because (it)is a pronoun and (that )is also a pronoun so you can't use two pronouns to point to one thing