diff --git a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/http/client/HttpComponentsClientHttpRequest.java b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/http/client/HttpComponentsClientHttpRequest.java
index 8c3a9f5123..751dfa9d5c 100644
--- a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/http/client/HttpComponentsClientHttpRequest.java
+++ b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/http/client/HttpComponentsClientHttpRequest.java
@@ -70,6 +70,9 @@ final class HttpComponentsClientHttpRequest extends AbstractBufferingClientHttpR
 		return this.httpRequest.getURI();
 	}
 
+	HttpContext getHttpContext() {
+		return httpContext;
+	}
 
 	@Override
 	protected ClientHttpResponse executeInternal(HttpHeaders headers, byte[] bufferedOutput) throws IOException {
diff --git a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/http/client/HttpComponentsClientHttpRequestFactory.java b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/http/client/HttpComponentsClientHttpRequestFactory.java
index 9aabb66a36..5edb555678 100644
--- a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/http/client/HttpComponentsClientHttpRequestFactory.java
+++ b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/http/client/HttpComponentsClientHttpRequestFactory.java
@@ -113,6 +113,7 @@ public class HttpComponentsClientHttpRequestFactory implements ClientHttpRequest
 	public void setConnectTimeout(int timeout) {
 		Assert.isTrue(timeout >= 0, "Timeout must be a non-negative value");
         this.connectTimeout = timeout;
+		setLegacyConnectionTimeout(getHttpClient(), connectTimeout);
 	}
 
 	/**
@@ -123,6 +124,7 @@ public class HttpComponentsClientHttpRequestFactory implements ClientHttpRequest
 	public void setReadTimeout(int timeout) {
 		Assert.isTrue(timeout >= 0, "Timeout must be a non-negative value");
         this.socketTimeout= timeout;
+		setLegacyReadTimeout(getHttpClient(), socketTimeout);
 	}
 
 	/**
@@ -222,6 +224,44 @@ public class HttpComponentsClientHttpRequestFactory implements ClientHttpRequest
 		return null;
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Apply the specified custom connection timeout for deprecated {@link HttpClient}
+	 * instances.
+	 * <p>As from HttpClient 4.3, default parameters have to be set in a
+	 * {@link RequestConfig} instance instead of setting the parameters
+	 * on the client.
+	 * <p>Unfortunately, this behaviour is not backward compatible and older
+	 * {@link HttpClient} implementations will ignore the {@link RequestConfig}
+	 * object set in the context.
+	 * <p>If the specified client is an older implementation, we set the
+	 * custom connection timeout through the deprecated API. Otherwise, we just
+	 * return as it is set per request with newer clients
+	 * @param client the client to handle
+	 * @param connectionTimeout the custom connection timeout
+	 */
+	@SuppressWarnings("deprecation")
+	private void setLegacyConnectionTimeout(HttpClient client, int connectionTimeout) {
+		if (org.apache.http.impl.client.AbstractHttpClient.class.isInstance(client)) {
+			client.getParams().setIntParameter(
+					org.apache.http.params.CoreConnectionPNames.CONNECTION_TIMEOUT, connectionTimeout);
+		}
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Apply the specified read  timeout for deprecated {@link HttpClient}
+	 * instances.
+	 * @param client the client to handle
+	 * @param readTimeout the custom read timeout
+	 * @see #setLegacyConnectionTimeout(org.apache.http.client.HttpClient, int)
+	 */
+	@SuppressWarnings("deprecation")
+	private void setLegacyReadTimeout(HttpClient client, int readTimeout) {
+		if (org.apache.http.impl.client.AbstractHttpClient.class.isInstance(client)) {
+			client.getParams().setIntParameter(
+					org.apache.http.params.CoreConnectionPNames.SO_TIMEOUT, readTimeout);
+		}
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Shutdown hook that closes the underlying
 	 * {@link org.apache.http.conn.HttpClientConnectionManager ClientConnectionManager}'s
diff --git a/spring-web/src/test/java/org/springframework/http/client/HttpComponentsClientHttpRequestFactoryTests.java b/spring-web/src/test/java/org/springframework/http/client/HttpComponentsClientHttpRequestFactoryTests.java
index 0eabc67d93..5f4442f653 100644
--- a/spring-web/src/test/java/org/springframework/http/client/HttpComponentsClientHttpRequestFactoryTests.java
+++ b/spring-web/src/test/java/org/springframework/http/client/HttpComponentsClientHttpRequestFactoryTests.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2012 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2014 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -16,6 +16,16 @@
 
 package org.springframework.http.client;
 
+import static org.junit.Assert.*;
+
+import java.net.URI;
+
+import org.apache.http.client.HttpClient;
+import org.apache.http.client.config.RequestConfig;
+import org.apache.http.client.protocol.HttpClientContext;
+import org.apache.http.impl.client.DefaultHttpClient;
+import org.apache.http.impl.client.HttpClientBuilder;
+import org.apache.http.params.CoreConnectionPNames;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.springframework.http.HttpMethod;
 
@@ -32,4 +42,36 @@ public class HttpComponentsClientHttpRequestFactoryTests extends AbstractHttpReq
 		assertHttpMethod("patch", HttpMethod.PATCH);
 	}
 
+	@SuppressWarnings("deprecation")
+	@Test
+	public void assertLegacyCustomConfig() {
+		HttpClient httpClient = new DefaultHttpClient(); // Does not support RequestConfig
+		HttpComponentsClientHttpRequestFactory hrf = new HttpComponentsClientHttpRequestFactory(httpClient);
+		hrf.setConnectTimeout(1234);
+		assertEquals(1234, httpClient.getParams().getIntParameter(CoreConnectionPNames.CONNECTION_TIMEOUT, 0));
+
+		hrf.setReadTimeout(4567);
+		assertEquals(4567, httpClient.getParams().getIntParameter(CoreConnectionPNames.SO_TIMEOUT, 0));
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void assertCustomConfig() throws Exception {
+		HttpClient httpClient = HttpClientBuilder.create().build();
+		HttpComponentsClientHttpRequestFactory hrf = new HttpComponentsClientHttpRequestFactory(httpClient);
+		hrf.setConnectTimeout(1234);
+		hrf.setReadTimeout(4567);
+
+		URI uri = new URI(baseUrl + "/status/ok");
+		HttpComponentsClientHttpRequest request = (HttpComponentsClientHttpRequest)
+				hrf.createRequest(uri, HttpMethod.GET);
+
+		Object config = request.getHttpContext().getAttribute(HttpClientContext.REQUEST_CONFIG);
+		assertNotNull("Request config should be set", config);
+		assertTrue("Wrong request config type" + config.getClass().getName(),
+				RequestConfig.class.isInstance(config));
+		RequestConfig requestConfig = (RequestConfig) config;
+		assertEquals("Wrong custom connection timeout", 1234, requestConfig.getConnectTimeout());
+		assertEquals("Wrong custom socket timeout", 4567, requestConfig.getSocketTimeout());
+
+	}
 }