How to do precise backing without damaging the clutch brake???

You don't have to push it to the floor to get it out of gear. Weather or not you have been riding the clutch backing in or not. And you don't have to tap the gas either. When you bump the dock, or wherever, you just hit the brake and depress the clutch a little more, it will slip right out. I have never heard of anyone giving it fuel to get it out of gear once they have stopped.

 

Sounds like your linkage or clutch itself is out of adjustment if there is no disengagement between slipping the clutch and hitting the floor. If you gotta hit the floor and clutch brake before it fully disengages then you need to adjust clutch internally and then adjust linkage. Get the service manual. Don't guess.

BTW y'all "riding" the clutch means resting your foot on the clutch pedal while driving. "Slipping" the clutch is more accurate term when maneuvering in close quarters.

 

Today's electronic engines add fuel to maintain idle speed, so no throttle needed. If you need to back a precise distance, walk it off and then walk it off from a sight point directly below your seat and place a marker on the ground. (I haul cars, driving by braille is an expensive option!)

Now it's easy, release the brake and just enough clutch friction to get the truck moving and release the clutch, and since you should already be covering (but not riding) the brake pedal, an easy stop on your mark. If it's uphill it's a little trickier as you have to hold the truck until the clutch generates enough force to take over and it will take more clutch engagement to get the truck moving. You don't want to 'inch' back too slowly or you'll overheat the clutch, so make sure you get the truck moving and not creeping. Putting the truck in gear is the first and last thing you do, don't worry about taking it out of gear until you've stopped.

 

^^^Exactly! Couldn't have said it any better, Hammer166.^^^
I don't understand those that are saying to also ride the brake. Completely unnecessary.
Cover it, yes. Ride it, no.

BTW OP, that pedal on the right is a fuel pedal, not gas pedal.
Best to learn it the proper way from the start.

 

If you can do all that in three feet then you must be driving a peddle car. I really don't know why you are in such a hurry to get to neutral. In that scenario- I would be in reverse, clutch depressed halfway and other foot on brake. I would slowly release brake incase I can just roll back using the brake, but if I had to, I engage the clutch out slightly to move back. At night or backing into a dark hole, I might keep enough pressure on my brake pedal(enough for the lights but not enough to hold the truck) that I could see the brake lights reflection on the dock. I pull flats and steps so quite often we cant see the running lights on the side of the wagon the way that door slammers can.

 

You can disengage the clutch without putting it all the way tot he floor. You don't need to stop in neutral In fact i never stop in neutral. Just put the clutch almost all the way to the floor without being pushing it hard on the floor. The clutch will be disengaged and the clutch brake wont activate. DOT says you should never roll in neutral. Now its no big deal if you use neutral when slow, but many drivers never use neutral while driving. I like to get a nice tight push on the dock, so once i hit it, i let the cluch out half way to put some strain pushing on it. I then pull my brakes while stopped, riding clutch pushing on dock. Even hitting supper slow your likely to bounce a little, so riding the clutch again for that last inch helps to press tight on the dock.

 

Yes that do work.

As to your second question. YOU STOP. I am having kind of a hard time wrapping my around where you are coming from. Your profile says 3 years, how have you been backing this whole time? It do not matter if it's 30 feet or 30 inches when you get to the end it's all basically the same. If you do like you do in the first paragraph of yours that I do quoted, you will do fine.

 

Personally, I think you're yanking everyone's chain.
You (the OP) lists 3 years experience, which is obviously a lie.
How would you even know what "floating" is, when you sure seem to not know how a clutch, gearshift, or brake pedal works?
Plus the fact that you make a 1', 3', or 30' controlled back seem like detailed pre-launch checklist of a space shuttle departure.

I'm very understanding of new students and extended hours/days/weeks it takes to gain backing skills, but in this case it only involves basic truck movement.
You ease the clutch out to the friction point (the truck begins to move), cover the brake, and brake/clutch in at the stopping point).
Are you in a truck driving school? If so, are the instructors on vacation? Or are you just trying to learn this on your own, without school?

You end saying "but you already have to stop, now what???"
Well, if you don't know to step on a brake pedal, and have to ask... now what??? first. I'm just SMH.
If it takes hours or days to learn just this, you might be better off picking another career. JMO

 

For three feet, the word "overthinking" comes to mind here.