shifter assembly

My shifter (Mazda 5, 2007, manual transmission) started making a crunching noise and became fairly loose -- it still shifts ok, but clearly something isn't right. I opened the shifter housing and found what looks like a ring/bushing surrounding a metal sphere/rod. It seems like the purpose of...

I took apart the shifter assembly on my 2013 cx5 to try and figure out why it kept slipping out of drive. I didnt notice anything that stood out to me as causing the issue but after I put it back together, it wont shift out of park. The override switch wont allow it to shift out of gear either...