i went out and pulled the sending unit, it was all caked with rusty varnish so i pulled off the cover on the rheostat sprayed it with contact cleaner and used an old tooth brush to clean it off. i hooked it up and tested it and it worked but it wouldnt go past 3/4 tank on the gauge. i tried messing with it and hit it with some emry and then a green scratch pad and more cleaner. still did the same thing.
i remembered i had the old tank that was originally on the truck before i did the efi swap i looked at the sending unit and it has the same bolt pattern so i figured id take a peek. the only difference in the sending unit was the one on the sr5 model i pulled the tank/efi/gauges from has the extra "low fuel" light sensor which is a 3 wire plug the one i had originally was from a 2 wire setup without the light. it was as easy as a few snips a bit of solder and some shrink tubing to splice in to the original harness. it now registers correct.

btw kewlnyx i wasnt able to find the sending unit on either of those sites. dont need one now but id bet the stealer has it.