Employing high-contact-ratio (HCR) gear is an effective method of decreasing the load on a single tooth, as well as reducing vibration and noise. While the spindlier tooth leads to greater relative sliding, having more teeth participate in contact at the same time makes the HCR gear more sensitive to the surface quality. Available literature regarding HCR gear primarily investigates the geometrical optimization, load distribution, or efficiency calculation. Limited work has been conducted on the effect of rough surfaces on the dynamic performance of HCR gear. For this reason, a multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) model is presented mathematically to characterize the static transmission error based on fractal theory, investigate the relative sliding friction using an EHL-based friction coefficient formula, and detail the time-varying friction coefficient suitable for HCR gear. Based on numerical results, the surface roughness has little influence on system response in terms of the dynamic transmission error but has a large effect on the motion in off-line-of-action (OLOA) direction and friction force. The impact of shaft-bearing stiffness and damping ratio is also explored with results revealing that a greater shaft-bearing stiffness is beneficial in obtaining a more stable motion in OLOA direction, and a larger damping ratio results in a smaller effective friction force. The theory presented in this report outlines a new method of analyzing the dynamics of HCR gear in respect of introducing surface roughness into MDOF model directly, as well as establishing an indirect relationship between dynamic responses and surface roughness. This method is expected to guide surface roughness design and manufacturing in the future. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.