Tiller handle and its grab bar are probably brass and should be nickel plated. There is supposed to be a leather-wrapped wooded grip on the tiller handle.
Driveshaft tube should be nickel plated as well, but I have to check that. The model B was the first salt-water model Johnson and I believe the main difference between the A and the B was the type of drive and propeller shafts used. The model “A” Johnson definitely had a nickel-plated driveshaft tube. Early models used a steel tube that was nickeled, but they switched to all brass tubes at some point in 1923.
If the four screws directly underneath the powerhead have been taken out, and your lower unit has also been taken off, then the only thing bonding the base of the crankcase to that flange is friction or corrosion or strong sealer, of a combination of the three. I’d suggest some gentle heating from a propane torch to warm things up, then find a place to nudge it with a plastic hammer or dead-blow mallet with a non-marring face and try to break it loose. Make sure your water pipes are all undone as well.
Hope this helps.
Best,
PM t2
He's livin' in his own private Idaho..... I hope to go out quietly in my sleep, like my grand-dad did..... and not screaming, like the passengers in his car...
