OK, is this black bit part of the aluminium casting on the front of the box that has snapped off? This is what happened to my J2. The black bit should slide inside the bronze bit, but due to lack of lubrication it seized and snapped off from the casting. Mine looked like this when I took it apart.
Is the object on the right the complete release bearing? I cannot see if it is intact. Would it have slid off along the length of the black thing? The hole in the bearing looks too small to slide off but I cannot tell.