Applying a general coupled lateral and torsional vibration finite element model of gear pair element, this paper intends to look into in detail the coupled lateral and torsional vibration characteristics of a turbo-chiller rotor bearing system, having a bull-pinion speed increasing gear. Investigations have been carried out systematically by comparing the uncoupled and coupled natural frequencies and their mode shapes upon varying the gear mesh stiffness with considerations on rotating speeds, and also by comparing the strain energies of lateral and torsional vibration modes. Results hale shown that some modes may hale the coupled lateral and torsional mode characteristics as the gear mesh stiffness Increases over a certain value, and moreover that their associated dominant modes may be different from their initial modes, j.e., a certain dominant mode may change from an initial torsional one to a lateral one or from an initial lateral one to a torsional one.