According to recent Korea Electric Power Company report, yearly distribution line brass cramp bolts failure summed up to 4,400 cases emerging as one of main local break-down causes. Naturally, the need for the investigation was proposed To determine the root cause of the cramp bolt failures, mechanical and metallurgical investigation were performed for 90 samples which collected from various sites. For the understanding of the geometric characteristics, stress distribution was evaluated by CAE program and proof load of each bolts was tested. The SEM&EDS was used for metallurgical investigation. Through the investigation, the root causes of failures were confirmed. All damaged bolts showed intergrannular fracture mode and the all fractured bolt showed ß phase morphology contrast to the a&ß mixture morphology of the non-damaged samples. Additionally, EDS analysis confirmed the existence of lead rich layer on grain boundaries.