Hello!

It's customary for my team to represent bolted joints without a preload in our studies outside of Solidworks (we use spring-damper elements with 6 DOF stiffness coupled to RBE2s). I know that SW has these bolt connectors that have RBE2/RBE3s coupled to a "beam element", so I'm wondering about anyone else's experience with the zero preload approach on these bolt connectors. 

I also know SW has spring elements that best approximate our modeling philosophy, but I prefer not rework an existing model that already has these bolt connectors.

Thanks!