The gear contact stress problem has been a great point of interest for many years, but still an extensive research is required to understand the various parameters affecting this stress. Among such parameters, helix angle is one which has played a crucial role in variation of contact stress. Numerous studies have been carried out on spur gear for contact stress variation. Hence, the present work is an attempt to study the contact stresses among the helical gear pairs, under static conditions, by using a 3D finite element method. The helical gear pairs on which the analysis is carried are 0, 5, 15, 25 degree helical gear sets. The Lagrange multiplier algorithm has been used between the contacting pairs to determine the stresses. The helical gear contact stress is evaluated using FE model and results have also been found at different coefficient of friction, varying from 0.0 to 0.3. The FE results have been further compared with the analytical calculations. The analytical calculations are based upon Hertz and AGMA equations, which are modified to include helix angle. The commercial finite element software was used in the study and it was shown that this approach can be applied to gear design efficiently. The contact stress results have shown a decreasing trend, with increase in helix angle. © 2014 Owned by the authors, published by EDP Sciences.