I have never flown a plane with "crosswind gear". Any I've known of have either been de-modified, or had the system locked out. I guess that there's a message in that! If it were a good idea, we'd be seeing them in service!
The only airplane I ever flew with x/wind gear was a DC3, it was really easy to land with a strong x/wind once you got used to approaching and landing with the airplane pointed at an angle to the runway.
It was sold to another operator ( Keir Air Transport in Edmonton. ) who changed it back to normal gear and gained 1600 or maybe 1800 pounds of payload....my memory is vague as to the exact weight saved.
Bottom line is the x/wind gear really did work, however the DC3 is so easy to fly if you needed x/wind gear you really should not fly period.