diff --git a/fleetd/src/test/java/dev/ltms/fleet/msg/ManualScheduler.java b/fleetd/src/test/java/dev/ltms/fleet/msg/ManualScheduler.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..08ae6c5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/fleetd/src/test/java/dev/ltms/fleet/msg/ManualScheduler.java
@@ -0,0 +1,168 @@
+package dev.ltms.fleet.msg;
+
+import java.util.ArrayDeque;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Collection;
+import java.util.Deque;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.concurrent.Callable;
+import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
+import java.util.concurrent.Future;
+import java.util.concurrent.RejectedExecutionException;
+import java.util.concurrent.ScheduledExecutorService;
+import java.util.concurrent.ScheduledFuture;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+
+/**
+ * A {@link ScheduledExecutorService} for tests that never runs a task on a timer — it records what
+ * {@link ReplyPushLoop} schedules and only ever runs it when the test itself calls
+ * {@link #runDueTasks()} (fleetd #608).
+ *
+ * <p>The test this exists for ({@code anAlreadyCollectedTicketProducesNoNudge}) used to wire
+ * {@link ReplyPushLoop} to a real {@code Executors.newSingleThreadScheduledExecutor()} and bet a
+ * 300ms backoff was "wide" enough that the test's own work (collecting the ticket) always won the
+ * race against the scheduler's own timer firing the next tick. On an idle machine that held; under
+ * a loaded full-suite run it did not, and the test went red on perfectly correct code. Replacing
+ * the timer with this fake removes the race rather than widening it: nothing here ever runs on a
+ * schedule of its own, so no backoff value — however small — can make the tick fire before the test
+ * is ready for it.
+ *
+ * <p><strong>Deliberately narrow.</strong> {@link ReplyPushLoop} calls exactly two methods on its
+ * {@link ScheduledExecutorService} field — {@link #schedule(Runnable, long, TimeUnit)} (every tick,
+ * including the very first one {@code startOrCoalesce} kicks off) and {@link #shutdownNow()} (on
+ * {@code ReplyPushLoop.stop()}/{@code close()}) — verified by reading every {@code scheduler.} call
+ * site in that class. Every other {@link ScheduledExecutorService} method throws
+ * {@link UnsupportedOperationException} rather than silently doing the wrong thing, so a future
+ * change to {@code ReplyPushLoop} that starts calling one of them fails this fake loudly, on the
+ * very first test that exercises it, instead of being quietly mishandled.
+ */
+final class ManualScheduler implements ScheduledExecutorService {
+
+    private final Deque<Runnable> pending = new ArrayDeque<>();
+    private boolean shutdown = false;
+
+    /**
+     * Run every task pending as of the START of this call — a snapshot taken before anything runs.
+     * {@link ReplyPushLoop#tick} always reschedules its own next tick before returning (see
+     * {@code scheduleNext} in its {@code INJECT}/{@code WAIT_BUSY} branches), so without the
+     * snapshot a single call here would recurse forever. Taking it up front means one call is
+     * exactly one tick, deterministically, no matter what that tick itself goes on to schedule.
+     *
+     * @return how many tasks actually ran
+     */
+    synchronized int runDueTasks() {
+        List<Runnable> due = new ArrayList<>(pending);
+        pending.clear();
+        for (Runnable task : due) {
+            task.run();
+        }
+        return due.size();
+    }
+
+    /** How many tasks are currently queued, without running any of them. */
+    synchronized int pendingCount() {
+        return pending.size();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public synchronized ScheduledFuture<?> schedule(Runnable command, long delay, TimeUnit unit) {
+        if (shutdown) {
+            throw new RejectedExecutionException("ManualScheduler is shut down");
+        }
+        pending.add(command);
+        return null; // ReplyPushLoop discards the return value of every schedule() call it makes.
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public synchronized List<Runnable> shutdownNow() {
+        shutdown = true;
+        List<Runnable> left = new ArrayList<>(pending);
+        pending.clear();
+        return left;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public synchronized boolean isShutdown() {
+        return shutdown;
+    }
+
+    // --- everything below: not called by ReplyPushLoop, and not supported by this fake (see the
+    // class javadoc's "deliberately narrow" note) -------------------------------------------------
+
+    @Override
+    public ScheduledFuture<?> scheduleAtFixedRate(Runnable command, long initialDelay, long period, TimeUnit unit) {
+        throw unsupported();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public ScheduledFuture<?> scheduleWithFixedDelay(Runnable command, long initialDelay, long delay, TimeUnit unit) {
+        throw unsupported();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public <V> ScheduledFuture<V> schedule(Callable<V> callable, long delay, TimeUnit unit) {
+        throw unsupported();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void shutdown() {
+        throw unsupported();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public boolean isTerminated() {
+        throw unsupported();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public boolean awaitTermination(long timeout, TimeUnit unit) {
+        throw unsupported();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public <T> Future<T> submit(Callable<T> task) {
+        throw unsupported();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public <T> Future<T> submit(Runnable task, T result) {
+        throw unsupported();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public Future<?> submit(Runnable task) {
+        throw unsupported();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public <T> List<Future<T>> invokeAll(Collection<? extends Callable<T>> tasks) {
+        throw unsupported();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public <T> List<Future<T>> invokeAll(Collection<? extends Callable<T>> tasks, long timeout, TimeUnit unit) {
+        throw unsupported();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public <T> T invokeAny(Collection<? extends Callable<T>> tasks) throws ExecutionException {
+        throw unsupported();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public <T> T invokeAny(Collection<? extends Callable<T>> tasks, long timeout, TimeUnit unit)
+            throws ExecutionException {
+        throw unsupported();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void execute(Runnable command) {
+        throw unsupported();
+    }
+
+    private static UnsupportedOperationException unsupported() {
+        return new UnsupportedOperationException(
+                "ManualScheduler only supports schedule(Runnable, long, TimeUnit), shutdownNow() and isShutdown() "
+                        + "— see the class javadoc");
+    }
+}
diff --git a/fleetd/src/test/java/dev/ltms/fleet/msg/MessageServiceTest.java b/fleetd/src/test/java/dev/ltms/fleet/msg/MessageServiceTest.java
index 0155b35..99f8f80 100644
--- a/fleetd/src/test/java/dev/ltms/fleet/msg/MessageServiceTest.java
+++ b/fleetd/src/test/java/dev/ltms/fleet/msg/MessageServiceTest.java
@@ -1841,6 +1841,36 @@ class MessageServiceTest {
         return new PushWiring(service, leadHerdr, scheduler);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * A {@link MessageService} wired to a real {@link ReplyPushLoop}, like {@link #wireWithPushLoop},
+     * but backed by {@link ManualScheduler} instead of a real timer (fleetd #608): its tick never
+     * fires on its own — a test drives it explicitly via {@link ManualScheduler#runDueTasks()}.
+     */
+    private record ManualPushWiring(MessageService service, FakeHerdr leadHerdr, ManualScheduler scheduler)
+            implements AutoCloseable {
+        @Override
+        public void close() {
+            scheduler.shutdownNow();
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * As {@link #wireWithPushLoop}, but the schedule never runs on its own. {@code backoffMs} is
+     * still threaded through to {@link ReplyPushLoop}'s constructor (it takes one), but nothing here
+     * ever waits it out, so its value cannot affect anything a test built on this observes — see
+     * {@code anAlreadyCollectedTicketProducesNoNudge}, which sets it to 1 to prove exactly that.
+     */
+    private ManualPushWiring wireWithManualScheduler(int maxReminders, long backoffMs) {
+        PrimaryRegistry registry = new PrimaryRegistry(null);
+        registry.recordDelegation(T, LEAD);
+        FakeHerdr leadHerdr = new FakeHerdr();
+        AgentControl leadAgents = new AgentControl(leadHerdr);
+        ManualScheduler scheduler = new ManualScheduler();
+        ReplyPushLoop pushLoop = new ReplyPushLoop(registry, leadAgents, inbox, scheduler, maxReminders, backoffMs);
+        MessageService service = new MessageService(agents, injector, rendezvous, inbox, pushLoop, null, System::nanoTime);
+        return new ManualPushWiring(service, leadHerdr, scheduler);
+    }
+
     private void awaitNudge(FakeHerdr leadHerdr) throws InterruptedException {
         long deadline = System.currentTimeMillis() + 3000;
         while (!leadHerdr.called("agent.prompt") && System.currentTimeMillis() < deadline) {
@@ -1882,16 +1912,46 @@ class MessageServiceTest {
 
     @Test
     void anAlreadyCollectedTicketProducesNoNudge() throws Exception {
-        try (var wiring = wireWithPushLoop(1, 300)) { // wide backoff: poll before the first tick fires
-            String ticket = wiring.service().sendAsync(T, "long task");
-            awaitWaiting();
-            injectDelivery();
-            assertTrue(rendezvous.resolve(T, "async result"));
+        // fleetd #608: backoff is 1ms — the most hostile value there is, the tick due immediately —
+        // and the test still must pass, because with ManualScheduler the tick never runs on a timer
+        // at all; it only runs when this test calls runDueTasks() below. The old version bet a 300ms
+        // backoff was "wide" enough that collecting the ticket always won the race against a real
+        // scheduler's own timer; that held on an idle machine and failed under a loaded full-suite
+        // run — a false red on correct code, since nothing here forced that ordering, it only made
+        // it likely.
+        try (var wiring = wireWithManualScheduler(1, 1)) {
+            java.util.concurrent.CountDownLatch terminalReached = new java.util.concurrent.CountDownLatch(1);
+            // finishAsyncTask's task.future.complete(...) runs every whenComplete registered on that
+            // same future — including sendAsync's own hook that calls ReplyPushLoop.onTicketTerminal
+            // — synchronously, before complete() returns (see finishAsyncTask's javadoc and fleetd
+            // #399). This test-only hook fires right after that complete() call, on the very same
+            // (async executor) thread, so waiting for it guarantees onTicketTerminal has already run
+            // and the ticket is really sitting in the push loop's pending set — unlike waiting for
+            // Phase.DONE via poll(), which CompletableFuture.complete() can make visible to another
+            // thread before every whenComplete dependent has actually finished running (the same
+            // publish-then-run-dependents gap awaitCompletionStamped exists to close elsewhere).
+            String ticket;
+            wiring.service().setAfterFinishAsyncTaskCompleteHookForTest(terminalReached::countDown);
+            try {
+                ticket = wiring.service().sendAsync(T, "long task");
+                awaitWaiting();
+                injectDelivery();
+                assertTrue(rendezvous.resolve(T, "async result"));
+                assertTrue(terminalReached.await(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS),
+                        "the ticket never reached its terminal phase");
+            } finally {
+                wiring.service().setAfterFinishAsyncTaskCompleteHookForTest(null);
+            }
 
+            // Collect it — the exact action the nudge must never follow.
             MessageService.TaskView view = awaitTicketPhaseOn(wiring.service(), ticket, MessageService.Phase.DONE);
             assertEquals(MessageService.Phase.DONE, view.phase());
 
-            Thread.sleep(400); // let the scheduled tick run — it must find nothing pending
+            // Now run the pending tick explicitly. onTicketTerminal scheduled exactly one (the ticket
+            // is the only thing this lead has ever had pending); it must find nothing left pending —
+            // the collection above already removed it — and send no nudge.
+            assertEquals(1, wiring.scheduler().runDueTasks(),
+                    "expected exactly the one tick onTicketTerminal scheduled");
             assertFalse(wiring.leadHerdr().called("agent.prompt"),
                     "a ticket the lead already polled must never be nudged");
         }