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Been there, done that. Several years ago my work schedule got busy enough, I allowed my boat to sit for a few months through the winter. When I had time to get her back in the water, the steering was frozen solid. Took a good week of using many of the techniques described in this thread to eventually get the rod free. My 1990 Outrage 17 has the rear deck/storage and I had very limited room to swing a hammer or sledge. Lots of curse words uttered that week!

Corrosion wasn't the problem for mine. Seems saltwater intrusion left behind large amounts of salt and mixed with old grease forming a sort of cement. I cleaned everything spotless before reassembly, then installed a product by Davis called the Cable Buddy.

I had the older system with the zerk fitting and greased it regularly. Unfortunately it seems the new grease never really penetrated far down the tube. The Cable Buddy system doesn't use grease but rather a liquid lubricant. Basically a synthetic gear oil. The cable steer has been smooth and trouble free ever since and I cant recommend the Cable Buddy system highly enough.

My boat is currently in the shop for a re-power. While there, I'm finally upgrading to hydraulic steering because I've been disappointed with the excess slop of the cable steering since I purchased my boat almost 18 years ago.