diff --git a/build.xml b/build.xml
index 26f1194f78..c4d6b0cc21 100644
--- a/build.xml
+++ b/build.xml
@@ -1020,6 +1020,7 @@ url=${svn.entry.url}?pathrev=${svn.entry.commit.revision}
     <testmacro suitename="unit" inputdir="${test.unit.src}" timeout="60000">
       <jvmarg value="-Dlegacy-sstable-root=${test.data}/legacy-sstables"/>
       <jvmarg value="-Dcorrupt-sstable-root=${test.data}/corrupt-sstables"/>
+      <jvmarg value="-Dcassandra.ring_delay_ms=1000"/>
     </testmacro>
   </target>
     
@@ -1028,6 +1029,7 @@ url=${svn.entry.url}?pathrev=${svn.entry.commit.revision}
       <jvmarg value="-Dlegacy-sstable-root=${test.data}/legacy-sstables"/>
       <jvmarg value="-Dcorrupt-sstable-root=${test.data}/corrupt-sstables"/>
       <jvmarg value="-Dcassandra.test.compression=true"/>
+      <jvmarg value="-Dcassandra.ring_delay_ms=1000"/>
     </testmacro>
   </target>
 
@@ -1054,6 +1056,7 @@ url=${svn.entry.url}?pathrev=${svn.entry.commit.revision}
   <target name="long-test" depends="build-test" description="Execute functional tests">
     <testmacro suitename="long" inputdir="${test.long.src}"
                timeout="${test.long.timeout}" />
+      <jvmarg value="-Dcassandra.ring_delay_ms=1000"/>
   </target>
 
   <!-- instruments the classes to later create code coverage reports -->
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/gms/Gossiper.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/gms/Gossiper.java
index 493b12c35a..9e88a7867b 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/gms/Gossiper.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/gms/Gossiper.java
@@ -377,9 +377,8 @@ public class Gossiper implements IFailureDetectionEventListener, GossiperMBean
      * @param endpoint - the endpoint being removed
      * @param token - the token being removed
      * @param mytoken - my own token for replication coordination
-     * @param delay
      */
-    public void advertiseRemoving(InetAddress endpoint, Token token, Token mytoken, int delay)
+    public void advertiseRemoving(InetAddress endpoint, Token token, Token mytoken)
     {
         EndpointState epState = endpointStateMap.get(endpoint);
         // remember this node's generation
@@ -388,7 +387,7 @@ public class Gossiper implements IFailureDetectionEventListener, GossiperMBean
         logger.info("Sleeping for " + StorageService.RING_DELAY + "ms to ensure " + endpoint + " does not change");
         try
         {
-            Thread.sleep(delay);
+            Thread.sleep(StorageService.RING_DELAY);
         }
         catch (InterruptedException e)
         {
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageService.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageService.java
index 42ee67aef0..e7c9ca33e4 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageService.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageService.java
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ public class StorageService implements IEndpointStateChangeSubscriber, StorageSe
 {
     private static Logger logger_ = LoggerFactory.getLogger(StorageService.class);
 
-    public static final int RING_DELAY = 30 * 1000; // delay after which we assume ring has stablized
+    public static final int RING_DELAY = getRingDelay(); // delay after which we assume ring has stablized
 
     /* All verb handler identifiers */
     public enum Verb
@@ -150,6 +150,17 @@ public class StorageService implements IEndpointStateChangeSubscriber, StorageSe
         put(Verb.UNUSED_3, Stage.INTERNAL_RESPONSE);
     }};
 
+    private static int getRingDelay()
+    {
+        String newdelay = System.getProperty("cassandra.ring_delay_ms");
+        if (newdelay != null)
+        {
+            logger_.warn("Overriding RING_DELAY to {}ms", newdelay);
+            return Integer.parseInt(newdelay);
+        }
+        else
+            return 30 * 1000;
+    }
 
     /**
      * This pool is used for periodic short (sub-second) tasks.
@@ -2328,11 +2339,6 @@ public class StorageService implements IEndpointStateChangeSubscriber, StorageSe
      * @param tokenString token for the node
      */
     public void removeToken(String tokenString)
-    {
-        removeToken(tokenString, RING_DELAY);
-    }
-
-    public void removeToken(String tokenString, int delay)
     {
         InetAddress myAddress = FBUtilities.getBroadcastAddress();
         Token localToken = tokenMetadata_.getToken(myAddress);
@@ -2380,7 +2386,7 @@ public class StorageService implements IEndpointStateChangeSubscriber, StorageSe
         calculatePendingRanges();
         // the gossiper will handle spoofing this node's state to REMOVING_TOKEN for us
         // we add our own token so other nodes to let us know when they're done
-        Gossiper.instance.advertiseRemoving(endpoint, token, localToken, delay);
+        Gossiper.instance.advertiseRemoving(endpoint, token, localToken);
 
         // kick off streaming commands
         restoreReplicaCount(endpoint, myAddress);
diff --git a/test/cassandra.in.sh b/test/cassandra.in.sh
index 47514f28b6..682327f7d4 100644
--- a/test/cassandra.in.sh
+++ b/test/cassandra.in.sh
@@ -50,4 +50,5 @@ JVM_OPTS=" \
         -XX:+HeapDumpOnOutOfMemoryError \
         -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.port=8090 \
         -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.ssl=false \
-        -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.authenticate=false"
+        -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.authenticate=false \
+        -Dcassandra.ring_delay_ms=1000"
diff --git a/test/unit/org/apache/cassandra/service/RemoveTest.java b/test/unit/org/apache/cassandra/service/RemoveTest.java
index 7bfa385cf9..c394e8f033 100644
--- a/test/unit/org/apache/cassandra/service/RemoveTest.java
+++ b/test/unit/org/apache/cassandra/service/RemoveTest.java
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ public class RemoveTest extends CleanupHelper
             {
                 try
                 {
-                    ss.removeToken(token, 0);
+                    ss.removeToken(token);
                 }
                 catch (Exception e)
                 {