Hi ysm,
In your case you may want to use Rigid Body Constraints or Kinematic Coupling Constraints. With those methods, you can define a reference point at any location and then describe how the load applied to the reference point is transferred to the actual part. Kinematic Coupling Constraints give you a little more freedom as to which degrees of freedom are "linked".
If you have any questions as to the details once you get comfortable, I'd be interested to help as it helps me expand my understanding as well. As an aside, do you work primarily with metallic parts or something more exotic like composites, etc.?
Regards,
-CM