I had a problem with my 1999 Ranger, it would show 1/4 tank on the gauge but the tank was actually empty. That's tricky if you don't know it's doing that. I picked it up after the second time, i.e., it didn't happen a third time only twice. Hahahahaha.

Anyway. I dropped the tank and took out the fuel pump sender assembly and checked the ohms. Checked ok so I just reinstalled and it seems to be reading ok now.

The thing is that the fuel pump inlet can be adjusted so that while the float is still floating the inlet is out of the fuel at times. So it seems like the engine is not getting gas while there's still fuel in the tank.