An improved variable cross-section cantilever beam model for evaluating the timevarying mesh stiffness (TVMS) of the perfect gear tooth is developed in which the tooth number of driving gear is less than 42 and that of driven is more than 42. The TVMS obtained by the proposed method is compared with the result without considering the misalignment between the base circle and gear root. Four types of root crack models and changes in TVMS of 13-crack levels are presented. The fault vibration characteristic of a single-stage spur gear reducer with root crack is analyzed and the correctness is qualitatively verified by the vibration signals of an experimental gearbox with crack or missing failure. The results presented in this paper are of great significance for a deep understanding of the possible causes of vibration and noise of gears and provide a theoretical foundation for the fault diagnosis of the gearbox. K E Y W O R D S backlash, gear, potential energy method, time-varying mesh stiffness (TVMS), tooth crack 1 | INTRODUCTION Spur gear transmission system has been used in various mechanical fields, 1-3 because of some characteristics, for example, simple structure, reliable operation, long service life, no axial forces, and so on during meshing. A great deal of research has been made on the dynamics of a pair of healthy spur gears. Amabili and Rivola 4 investigated the steady-state response and stability of a single degree of freedom (DOF) model with time-varying mesh stiffness (TVMS) and damping coefficient. Later, Amabili and Fregolent 5 proposed a new method for identifying the gear error and modal parameters,where the nonlinear meshing stiffness, mesh damping, and excitation caused by gear errors are taken into account. However, tooth crack, pitting, spalling may develop in gears for overload, harsh operating conditions, manufacturing errors, and so forth. Therefore, it is of great significance to study the mechanism and vibration characteristics of spur gear systems with faults for further understanding the causes of gear vibration and noise, as well as for gear fault diagnosis.