Truck dies, gas gauge reads 1/3, tank is empty

Got a bit of an urgent situation I hope my fellow TW friends can help out with. My daughter has an '06 that suddenly died while driving. Someone helped push it off the road (she's 4 hours away from me). The recommended shop put 2 gallons in and it started and ran fine - despite showing 1/3 tank of gas, same thing my daughter reported. From my experience this is likely a pump basket/float arm problem, but the shop is considering an actual gauge problem. Has anyone experienced a similar problem, and if so, what was the cause? The shop guy is real nice and is trying his best, but I'm wanting to provide some guidance if possible.

 

Yeah, Other people have had the problem.
You can check the resistance across the pins and see what it reads.

Resistance Check Specifications

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/gas-gage-on-dash-shows-empty.729840/#post-26002388

Diagram

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/gas-gage-on-dash-shows-empty.729840/page-2#post-26003303

 

My 06 started doing this last year as well. Gets down to a little bit below a quarter, and then it's empty. Just keep track of the miles. Mine could usually go about 270. I don't let it go more than 220 before I get gas. I already bought a new sending unit but I haven't changed it out yet

 

My 12 did the same

Had sending unit replaced (told them not to waste time/my money testing, just replace sending unit)

No more problem

Dealer repaired and cost was reasonable

 

Dealing with it here too. I use one trip meter to track miles driven on each tank.