Abstract: The wire rope of a crane was used for only one month, and the early fracture occurred. The fracture causes of wire rope were analyzed by means of macro analysis, micro analysis, energy spectrum analysis, metallographic examination and mechanical property test. The results show that the wire rope was seriously wear and deformed by shearing extrusion, caused the temperature rise and the microstructure change, which led to the decrease of the bearing capacity of the wire rope and failure. Some steel wires broken, which resulted in the remaining steel wires were not enough to support all the bearing capacity, and finally led to the fracture failure of the wire rope.