I just did the one in my battery box.  Easy-peasy, but the old bolt was corroded.  The one for the transmission ground strap I haven't tackled yet - I noticed on my '88 Auto Transmission that it's a bolt into the body and then the other end is held on to the transmission via a nut over a stud on the tranny mount.  I didn't have my dremel/wire brush handy to attack the stud/nut combo, so I'm delaying that one.

I can see the bolt head shearing off under the car, especially if you're in a rust-belt part of the country.

As a side note, does anyone know if:

* The transmission ground strap bolt (into the body of the car) is the same type of bolt as the battery box bolt?
* The proper dimensions/pitch of the nut that holds the transmission ground strap to the auto tranny mount?

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Mark L. Hineline
Sent: Friday, January 21, 2011 3:08 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Ground straps

I read, perhaps on the samba, that the bolts for ground straps tend to sheer. True? I want to fuss with all my grounds and make sure they're clean.

Mark