Lower suspension arm side bolt & nut just spinning

[Houdini]

Another day fixing the van, this time a snapped spring caused I think due to excessive wear in rear lower arm bush.  Went to check and yip it was not even secured in the rubber any more!

The issue was the front side bolt on the lower arm bush started to turn ok then just spun round. WHAT a disaster I had to to grind of the old arm off to get access then had to hack into the metal surround (I know not great) to get mole grips on to the nut to  stop it spinning.
Has any one else had this problem and what did you do to sort it?  Only did one side as a result of the 3 hours it took when it was a fairly easy part to fit.

[ffrenchie]

Springs break because they lose their temper and wear out. I changed a lower arm on our car last year and it was a simple enough procedure with combination ring spanners and sockets, why did you need to get a vice grip in there ?

[Top drive]

"Springs break because they lose their temper and wear out"

or corrode - every berlingo spring ive changed has been badly corroded at point of failure.

[geoff]

 I changed a lower arm on our car.. it was a simple enough procedure with combination ring spanners and sockets ...

why did you need to get a vice grip in there ?

 Sounds like the captive nut for the front wishbone fixing had seized to the bolt and subsequently spun in the chassis.

 Not a nice job well done Houdini for getting it sorted .....

[Houdini]

The Nut had indeed stuck on to the bolt and there is no access to get a spanner on to it ever a ring spanner wont work as its not able to fit over the bolt  as the access hole is too small. Im doing the other side next week so Il make a video.  I read about the same problem on a Picasso forum and only option was the same to hack into the main shassy support and grip it with mole grips as an open spanner can round it off. very poor design.

[vixen_fix]

Houdini I feel your pain!!!
Same thing happened to me last weak. With an abundance of spanners about I opted for modifying them.

Broke 3 in the process because obviously they were weakened. Managed to hammer one on the nut wedged in the gaps and wound it till it got tight, then backed it off to clear the crap off the thread.

I had toyed with the idea of grinding the bolt off and driving it into the arm but it would've probably gotten wedged and totally inaccessible.

Hope the other side behaves for you.