diff --git a/broker/client/reader.go b/broker/client/reader.go
index fc1e5583..781fd26d 100644
--- a/broker/client/reader.go
+++ b/broker/client/reader.go
@@ -8,10 +8,14 @@ import (
 	"io"
 	"io/ioutil"
 	"net/http"
+	"sync"
+	"sync/atomic"
 
 	"github.com/prometheus/client_golang/prometheus"
+	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 	"go.gazette.dev/core/broker/codecs"
 	pb "go.gazette.dev/core/broker/protocol"
+	"golang.org/x/net/http2"
 	"google.golang.org/grpc/codes"
 	"google.golang.org/grpc/status"
 )
@@ -349,23 +353,22 @@ func (fr *FragmentReader) Close() error {
 // fragments are persisted, and to which this client also has access. The
 // returned cleanup function removes the handler and restores the prior http.Client.
 //
-//      const root = "/mnt/shared-nas-array/path/to/fragment-root"
-//      defer client.InstallFileTransport(root)()
-//
-//      var rr = NewRetryReader(ctx, client, protocol.ReadRequest{
-//          Journal: "a/journal/with/nas/fragment/store",
-//          DoNotProxy: true,
-//      })
-//      // rr.Read will read Fragments directly from NAS.
+//	const root = "/mnt/shared-nas-array/path/to/fragment-root"
+//	defer client.InstallFileTransport(root)()
 //
+//	var rr = NewRetryReader(ctx, client, protocol.ReadRequest{
+//	    Journal: "a/journal/with/nas/fragment/store",
+//	    DoNotProxy: true,
+//	})
+//	// rr.Read will read Fragments directly from NAS.
 func InstallFileTransport(root string) (remove func()) {
-	var transport = http.DefaultTransport.(*http.Transport).Clone()
-	transport.RegisterProtocol("file", http.NewFileTransport(http.Dir(root)))
-
-	var prevClient = httpClient
-	httpClient = &http.Client{Transport: transport}
+	maybeFileTransport.Store(root)
+	httpClient.swapClient(-1) // don't check the generation counter when swapping
 
-	return func() { httpClient = prevClient }
+	return func() {
+		maybeFileTransport.Store("")
+		httpClient.swapClient(-1)
+	}
 }
 
 // mapGRPCCtxErr returns ctx.Err() iff |err| represents a gRPC error with a
@@ -389,6 +392,75 @@ func fragmentLabels(fragment pb.Fragment) prometheus.Labels {
 	}
 }
 
+// httpClientWrapper wraps an `http.Client`, which can be swapped out on the fly.
+// The main purpose of doing this is to force it to abandon and re-create network connections
+// in cases where the connections seem to be to misbehaving servers. We _like_ to have some logic like
+// "if the server returns 3 INTERNAL_ERRORs in a row, then stop using this connection for future requests".
+// Unfortunately, the Go APIs don't really allow for that sort of thing, and so this is the workaround
+// that seems easiest for now.
+type httpClientWrapper struct {
+	inner     *http.Client
+	clientGen int64
+	clientMu  sync.RWMutex
+}
+
+// swapClient triggers the immediate re-creation of the underlying http client.
+// The current `clientGen` is compared to `expectClientGen`, and the client will _not_ be re-created
+// if they are different. This is used to prevent unnecessary re-creations in cases where multiple
+// goroutines all call swapClient simultaneously. Passing `-1` causes it to swap the client unconditionally,
+// which is only used during tests. Returns a boolean indicating whether the client was actually re-created.
+func (c *httpClientWrapper) swapClient(expectClientGen int64) (swapped bool) {
+	c.clientMu.Lock()
+	if expectClientGen == -1 || c.clientGen == expectClientGen {
+		c.inner = newInnerClient()
+		c.clientGen++
+		swapped = true
+	}
+	c.clientMu.Unlock()
+	return
+}
+
+func (c *httpClientWrapper) Do(req *http.Request) (*http.Response, error) {
+	c.clientMu.RLock()
+	var client = c.inner
+	var clientGen = c.clientGen
+	c.clientMu.RUnlock()
+
+	var resp, err = client.Do(req)
+	var streamErr http2.StreamError
+	// Check for a specific error condition representing an internal error from a cloud storage
+	// server using http2. If this happens, then we'll re-create the client in order to force it to
+	// close existing connections and re-establish new ones. This is a smelly workaround for issues
+	// we've observed where Go's http2 client will keep re-using the same http connections when an
+	// unhealthy server just keeps sending `RSTStream` frames with internal error codes.
+	if errors.As(err, &streamErr) && streamErr.Code == http2.ErrCodeInternal {
+		// If swapClient returns false, then it just means that another goroutine beat us to it
+		if c.swapClient(clientGen) {
+			logrus.WithFields(logrus.Fields{
+				"err":           streamErr,
+				"prevClientGen": clientGen,
+			}).Warn("re-establishing fragment reader storage connections due to http2 stream error")
+		}
+	}
+
+	return resp, err
+}
+
+func newInnerClient() *http.Client {
+	var transport = http.DefaultTransport.(*http.Transport).Clone()
+	http2.ConfigureTransport(transport)
+
+	var fileRoot = maybeFileTransport.Load()
+	if root, ok := fileRoot.(string); ok && root != "" {
+		logrus.Debug("installing file transport")
+		transport.RegisterProtocol("file", http.NewFileTransport(http.Dir(root)))
+	}
+
+	return &http.Client{
+		Transport: http.RoundTripper(transport),
+	}
+}
+
 var (
 	// Map common broker error statuses into named errors.
 	ErrInsufficientJournalBrokers = errors.New(pb.Status_INSUFFICIENT_JOURNAL_BROKERS.String())
@@ -411,6 +483,10 @@ var (
 	// underlying file did not return EOF at the expected Fragment End offset.
 	ErrDidNotReadExpectedEOF = errors.New("did not read EOF at expected Fragment.End")
 
+	maybeFileTransport atomic.Value
+
 	// httpClient is the http.Client used by OpenFragmentURL
-	httpClient = http.DefaultClient
+	httpClient = &httpClientWrapper{
+		inner: newInnerClient(),
+	}
 )