You could take a small brake hone and hone out that tilt tube to remove the harden grease and dirt in it, lucky u caught it in time some are that stuck u need to use heat and a hydraulic press even on sunk outboards u need replace the while tilt tube if its rusty
i had one that was left in there seized up rusted to the shit house the old owner just cut the cable and left it i hooked up old pull pull SS cable steering so didn't matter