At my wits end, good ole fuel gauge troubles

I would try the jumper I mentioned from the sender to the connector

Post some photos of the inside of the connector and the post on the sender.
I’ll get some photos soon but the sending unit stud looks just like the one above with the arrow pointed to it.. the plug is the orig rubber 90° slip on connector. There isn’t a nut on the stud.. tempted to cut the end off and put an eyelet on it with a nut holding it on.