At present, majority of hoist test benches are designed alone for researching the characteristics of the elevator components, but not reflected the organic whole. An electro -hydraulic loading system for friction hoisting test bench is designed, based on comprehensive analysis of the existing all loading methods. The components and working principles of the loading system were described, and the loading test was carried out. The greatest feature was that the dynamic source and effective object were both friction wheel. The energy recovery was reached while improving the loading requirement of hoist torque. The test results verifies the effectiveness of the designed hydraulic loading system.