In this paper, a method to identify the damping and stiffness properties of bolted joints from a substructure synthesis scheme is presented. The easily measured frequency response functions of substructures and the assembled structure are the only data needed in this method. A synthesis formula used to predict the frequency response functions of two‐bolt‐joint structures is proposed. The formula makes use of the extracted properties of a single‐bolt‐joint. Some experiments with two free‐free steel beams jointed with one or two bolts are made to check this method. The close correlation between predicted and measured results demonstrates that this method is acceptable.