Broken Fuel Gauge

So for the majority of the time that I have owned my truck (99 2.7L TRD Prerunner), the fuel gauge has not worked. When I first got it in '09, the gauge would work intermittently. Over the year it just stopped working all together. After doing a lot of research online I determined that it was either the fuel sending unit in the tank ($120) or a faulty gauge in the cluster (which was unlikely).

I finally decided to remove the bed and take a look at the fuel pump assembly in the tank. I originally thought this would be a difficult task, but in reality it was quite simple.

First I had to remove the tail lights and push the wiring down below the bed. Then unlclip the wiring loom from the bottom of the bed.
Next, unscrew the fuel filler neck behind the fuel door. You can also unmount the hard mount at the frame just below this to give the neck some more wiggle room.
There are 6 bolts that hold the bed on. They have blue thread locker applied to them so they will take some force to break loose. It helps to remove the rear bumper to access the rear bolts because the bumper mounting bolts are in the way. The bolts are all 17mm.
The bed does not weigh much and can be lifted off with 2 people, but 3 would be better. Be sure to lift it high enough to clear the filler neck. I was actually able to put the bed back on by myself by sliding it, but you have to be careful of the wiring on the frame.
Once the bed was off I could access the fuel pump assembly on the tank. There are two fuel lines to disconnect, one of which will push out gas because of the pressure. I just put a rag under it to catch the excess fuel.
When I finally got the pump assembly out, I looked over the fuel sending unit (the thing with the float attached). One of the pins in the wiring connector was completely burned and melted. I'm not sure how this occurred, especially in a tank of gasoline. Anyway, this was definitely the cause of the gauge not working. I pulled a pin out of a spare connector I had (for a window switch) and swapped it in. We will see how long it lasts, but it beats spending $120 on a new sending unit.