diff --git a/solr/CHANGES.txt b/solr/CHANGES.txt
index b2bb52a48a0..d63ea8bb02c 100644
--- a/solr/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/solr/CHANGES.txt
@@ -104,6 +104,8 @@ Bug Fixes
 * SOLR-5451: SyncStrategy closes it's http connection manager before the
   executor that uses it in it's close method. (Mark Miller)
 
+* SOLR-5453: Raise recovery socket read timeouts. (Mark Miller)
+
 Other Changes
 ---------------------
 
diff --git a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/RecoveryStrategy.java b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/RecoveryStrategy.java
index 6ad73c8ba62..596027b0f04 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/RecoveryStrategy.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/RecoveryStrategy.java
@@ -186,7 +186,6 @@ public class RecoveryStrategy extends Thread implements ClosableThread {
     HttpSolrServer server = new HttpSolrServer(leaderUrl);
     try {
       server.setConnectionTimeout(30000);
-      server.setSoTimeout(60000);
       UpdateRequest ureq = new UpdateRequest();
       ureq.setParams(new ModifiableSolrParams());
       ureq.getParams().set(DistributedUpdateProcessor.COMMIT_END_POINT, true);
@@ -202,8 +201,7 @@ public class RecoveryStrategy extends Thread implements ClosableThread {
       throws SolrServerException, IOException {
     HttpSolrServer server = new HttpSolrServer(leaderBaseUrl);
     try {
-      server.setConnectionTimeout(45000);
-      server.setSoTimeout(120000);
+      server.setConnectionTimeout(30000);
       WaitForState prepCmd = new WaitForState();
       prepCmd.setCoreName(leaderCoreName);
       prepCmd.setNodeName(zkController.getNodeName());
diff --git a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/SyncStrategy.java b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/SyncStrategy.java
index 7ab219ec38a..274528552e7 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/SyncStrategy.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/SyncStrategy.java
@@ -67,8 +67,7 @@ public class SyncStrategy {
     ModifiableSolrParams params = new ModifiableSolrParams();
     params.set(HttpClientUtil.PROP_MAX_CONNECTIONS, 10000);
     params.set(HttpClientUtil.PROP_MAX_CONNECTIONS_PER_HOST, 20);
-    params.set(HttpClientUtil.PROP_CONNECTION_TIMEOUT, 15000);
-    params.set(HttpClientUtil.PROP_SO_TIMEOUT, 60000);
+    params.set(HttpClientUtil.PROP_CONNECTION_TIMEOUT, 30000);
     params.set(HttpClientUtil.PROP_USE_RETRY, false);
     client = HttpClientUtil.createClient(params);
   }
@@ -284,8 +283,8 @@ public class SyncStrategy {
         
         HttpSolrServer server = new HttpSolrServer(baseUrl, client);
         try {
-          server.setConnectionTimeout(15000);
-          server.setSoTimeout(60000);
+          server.setConnectionTimeout(30000);
+          server.setSoTimeout(120000);
           server.request(recoverRequestCmd);
         } catch (Throwable t) {
           SolrException.log(log, ZkCoreNodeProps.getCoreUrl(leaderProps) + ": Could not tell a replica to recover", t);
diff --git a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/update/PeerSync.java b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/update/PeerSync.java
index fe57116bbc1..e4507d5aebe 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/update/PeerSync.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/update/PeerSync.java
@@ -17,6 +17,9 @@
 
 package org.apache.solr.update;
 
+import static org.apache.solr.update.processor.DistributedUpdateProcessor.DistribPhase.FROMLEADER;
+import static org.apache.solr.update.processor.DistributingUpdateProcessorFactory.DISTRIB_UPDATE_PARAM;
+
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.net.ConnectException;
 import java.net.SocketException;
@@ -37,7 +40,6 @@ import org.apache.solr.cloud.ZkController;
 import org.apache.solr.common.SolrException;
 import org.apache.solr.common.SolrInputDocument;
 import org.apache.solr.common.params.ModifiableSolrParams;
-import org.apache.solr.common.util.NamedList;
 import org.apache.solr.common.util.StrUtils;
 import org.apache.solr.core.SolrCore;
 import org.apache.solr.handler.component.HttpShardHandlerFactory;
@@ -48,16 +50,11 @@ import org.apache.solr.handler.component.ShardResponse;
 import org.apache.solr.request.LocalSolrQueryRequest;
 import org.apache.solr.request.SolrQueryRequest;
 import org.apache.solr.response.SolrQueryResponse;
-import org.apache.solr.update.processor.DistributedUpdateProcessorFactory;
-import org.apache.solr.update.processor.RunUpdateProcessorFactory;
 import org.apache.solr.update.processor.UpdateRequestProcessor;
 import org.apache.solr.update.processor.UpdateRequestProcessorChain;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
-import static org.apache.solr.update.processor.DistributingUpdateProcessorFactory.DISTRIB_UPDATE_PARAM;
-import static org.apache.solr.update.processor.DistributedUpdateProcessor.DistribPhase.FROMLEADER;
-
 /** @lucene.experimental */
 public class PeerSync  {
   public static Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(PeerSync.class);
@@ -88,7 +85,6 @@ public class PeerSync  {
     params.set(HttpClientUtil.PROP_MAX_CONNECTIONS_PER_HOST, 20);
     params.set(HttpClientUtil.PROP_MAX_CONNECTIONS, 10000);
     params.set(HttpClientUtil.PROP_CONNECTION_TIMEOUT, 30000);
-    params.set(HttpClientUtil.PROP_SO_TIMEOUT, 30000);
     params.set(HttpClientUtil.PROP_USE_RETRY, false);
     client = HttpClientUtil.createClient(params);
   }
diff --git a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/update/StreamingSolrServers.java b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/update/StreamingSolrServers.java
index 02ec08939e6..3af7c328b8a 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/update/StreamingSolrServers.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/update/StreamingSolrServers.java
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ public class StreamingSolrServers {
     params.set(HttpClientUtil.PROP_MAX_CONNECTIONS, 128);
     params.set(HttpClientUtil.PROP_MAX_CONNECTIONS_PER_HOST, 32);
     params.set(HttpClientUtil.PROP_FOLLOW_REDIRECTS, false);
+    params.set(HttpClientUtil.PROP_CONNECTION_TIMEOUT, 30000);
     httpClient = HttpClientUtil.createClient(params);
   }
   
diff --git a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/cloud/SyncSliceTest.java b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/cloud/SyncSliceTest.java
index ad49dc1ba99..65ad0e8b851 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/cloud/SyncSliceTest.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/cloud/SyncSliceTest.java
@@ -134,8 +134,8 @@ public class SyncSliceTest extends AbstractFullDistribZkTestBase {
     baseUrl = baseUrl.substring(0, baseUrl.length() - "collection1".length());
     
     HttpSolrServer baseServer = new HttpSolrServer(baseUrl);
+    // we only set the connect timeout, not so timeout
     baseServer.setConnectionTimeout(15000);
-    baseServer.setSoTimeout(60000);
     baseServer.request(request);
     
     waitForThingsToLevelOut(15);