Abstract: The 6×19 point contact rope was taken as an example to investigate the fretting wear behavior of the hoisting rope. Thus the effect of the contact load on the fretting wear behavior was examined. Furthermore, the morphologies of the fretted steel wire surfaces were observed on the S-3000N scanning electron microscope. The results showed that the fretting behavior of the fretted steel wire was in the mixed fretting regime from 9N to 29N based on the evolution of the friction force (Ft)-amplitude (D) curve of steel wire versus the fretting cycles, and the contact stress increased with the increasing of contact load, The friction coefficient was low at the beginning of fretting wear, and then increased gradually until to stabilize in the latter. It was found that the friction coefficient decreased with the increasing of the contact load. The friction coefficients were the highest at 9 N,and the lowest at 29N. Moreover, as the contact load increased, the probability of contact fatigue on the wire surface increased. As a result, the wear trace appeared debris detached and micro-cracks due to fatigue. Abrasive wear, fatigue wear and tribo-oxidation were the main wear mechanisms.