Focusing on the impact of machining on structural integrity and fatigue life of components the surface and subsurface properties are of major importance. It is well known that machining induced residual stresses have a significant influence on the fatigue life of a component. Due to thermal and mechanical loads during a product's life cycle these stresses relax, which is undesired in most cases. The presented approach utilizes relaxations due to mechanical load to estimate the load history of a component. It is intended to qualify residual stress relaxation as a load sensor and to determine the limits of this approach. Therefore, it is demonstrated, how the residual stress state induced by turning of AISI 1060 determines the critical load causing relaxation. Subsequently, the influence of load stress and the number of load cycles is used to build up a model. The presented approach accesses load information from mass production components. Until now, this information is typically limited to prototypical developments or high price parts equipped with external sensors. One application of life cycle data is condition-based maintenance. This technology allows to extend service intervals and prevent a premature replacement of undamaged components. Thus, cost and resource efficiency are augmented. It is demonstrated that based on the changes of residual stress, possible mechanical loads and number of load cycle combinations can be identified. The changes are used to estimate the experienced loads.