Aiming at the problem of severe vibration and abnormal wear and tear of various components in coal shearer under slant-cutting conditions, a non-linear dynamics model with 13 degrees of freedom for a coal shearer under slant-cutting conditions is developed using vibration mechanics and multi-body dynamics theory, and the characteristics of the slide shoes-middle groove contact, the ranging arm-haulage unit connection with gaps and the guidance sliding boots-pin rail multi-surface contact with gaps are described based on three-dimensional fractal theory and Hertz contact theory. Based on Huco's law, the ranging arm and the hydraulic rod are assumed to be flexible beams, the rigidity characteristics of the ranging arm itself, the connection characteristics of the haulage unit and the fuselage are described, a drum correction load with a traction speed correction factor is proposed as the external excitation of the system, and the model is solved and analyzed. The research results show that the change of traction speed has a greater influence on the vibration swing angle and displacement of the front drum, front ranging arm and front walking unit, and the vibration swing angle and displacement of the three increase with the increase of traction speed, while the change of coalface hardness coefficient has less influence on the vibration displacement of the key components of the coal shearer. Under the working parameters of v = 3 m/min and f = 3, the swing angle and displacement of the front ranging arm and front drum fluctuate in the ranges of − 0.4–0.1 rad and – 15–15 mm respectively; the vibration acceleration is – 300–300 rad/s2 and – 200–200 mm/s2 respectively, the main vibration frequencies are 16.63 Hz and 12.14 Hz respectively, and finally the results are verified by experimental methods.