diff --git a/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/transport/AkkaProtocolStressTest.scala b/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/transport/AkkaProtocolStressTest.scala
index 8c26b62c30..ce226b190b 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/transport/AkkaProtocolStressTest.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/transport/AkkaProtocolStressTest.scala
@@ -68,7 +68,11 @@ object AkkaProtocolStressTest {
 
 class AkkaProtocolStressTest extends AkkaSpec(configA) with ImplicitSender with DefaultTimeout {
 
-  val systemB = ActorSystem("systemB", system.settings.config)
+  val systemB = ActorSystem(
+    "systemB",
+    // Retry limit for system B should be high enough that it does not trigger during this test. Otherwise
+    // too much messages can be dropped causing the test to fail sporadically.
+    ConfigFactory.parseString("akka.remote.maximum-retries-in-window = 20").withFallback(system.settings.config))
   val remote = systemB.actorOf(Props(new Actor {
     def receive = {
       case seq: Int ⇒ sender ! seq