Johnson 70 frozen manual tilt will not budge

My tilt and trim worked fine years ago, the boat has been sitting, but long story short i think my grandfather who used to get up there and raise and lower the motor every week to keep it free, tried raising it when the winter got it and it froze, i would imagine he held it while it didnt move but didnt hear the motor humming as it was froze. so i guess he had burned the motor up, because the relays are clicking and im getting voltage there are two wires going to the motor. it is i think a 1986 johnson 70 VRO. i cannot get the manual release screw opened, so i decided to take the nuts off of the 2 rams that go to the outboard and i should be able to raise the motor off of the 2 rams because now there is nothing holding the motor down, its still froze, i only get 2 inches of play from SOMEWHERE... how would i go about manually budging this motor to work on the trim and tilt. we tried a floor jack, but almost broke the lower unit right off, we tried hooking it to the back of his truck, but almost pulled the entire pontoon boat off the trailer. i will not take the motor off, and i am not bringing it to the shop since i have put 2,000 into the trailer and carpet seats and rebuilding the boat. ill leave it the way it is and full throttle over a sandbar and if i dont rip the transom off the boat, i will definately free the motor. thanks for any advice.... i did grease the fittings on the tilt tube. no joy. was afraid to try a torch.

Re: Johnson 70 frozen manual tilt will not budge

If it is moving 2 inches then it's probably not the sort of thing a torch helps. torches are good for seized shafts and bolts that refuse to rotate. I don't think you would get the 2 inches of movement if that was the case. Sounds more like a tilt lock mechanism or mechanical obstruction.