When I was rebuilding the "first gen" FE for the Cobra I needed to buy a set of roller rockers/shafts. I was looking at Ersons and the new Cranes, which were recently released. The Cranes were about a hundred bucks cheaper at the time. It's then when I started doing some digging to the find pros and cons of each that I found out about the FE Crane rocker problems. Crane's first go-round with them had the ratios off a bit and the rockers were swiping the valve tips a little too far outboard. This caused some guide wear issues in extreme conditions. I also didn't like the fact that you had to mill the shaft stands a little shorter unlike the "plug 'n play" of the Ersons. That additional machine work sort of negated and savings in the cost of the part. The needle bearings are killer too.
It's then that I decided to spend the hundred bucks more and invest in the Ersons. I've had the Ersons on 2 different engines and in each case they have worked flawlessly, with a 0.650" lift cam too in the later engine. I'm running Keith's stage II Eboks with 0.060"
oil restrictors to keep just the right
oil flow to the rockers. I didn't follow the FE Crane system after that. I'd heard some chatter that they'd improved things, to what degree I don't know.
As to Crane's reported demise, it's truely a sad day when we loose such a notable performance parts giant. I make no judgement about Crane based on what I heard about their FE rockers. They produce outstanding products that have graced many an engine that I've built. They will be missed.
Dave