diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 6dd830a60..09014021c 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ codecov = { repository = "alexcrichton/tokio-process" }
 
 [dependencies]
 futures = "0.1.11"
-mio = "=0.6.16" # TODO: investigate further and unpin this
+mio = "0.6.5"
 tokio-io = "0.1"
 tokio-reactor = "0.1"
 
diff --git a/tests/stdio.rs b/tests/stdio.rs
index 1776f3ae3..abb00d416 100644
--- a/tests/stdio.rs
+++ b/tests/stdio.rs
@@ -85,6 +85,18 @@ fn feed_a_lot() {
     assert_eq!(status.code(), Some(0));
 }
 
+// FIXME: delete this test once we have a resolution for #51
+// This test's setup is flaky, and setting up a consistent test is nearly
+// impossible: right now we invoke `cat` and immediately kill it, expecting
+// that it didn't write anything, but if there's something wrong with the
+// command itself (e.g. redirection issues, it doesn't actually print anything
+// out, etc.) this test can falsely pass. Attempting a solution which writes
+// some data, *then* kill the child, write more data, and assert that only the
+// first write is echoed back seems like a good approach, however, due to the
+// ordering of context switches or how the kernel buffers data we can get
+// inconsistent results. We can keep this test around for now, but as soon as
+// we have a solution for #51, we may have a better avenue for testing this
+// functionality.
 #[test]
 fn drop_kills() {
     let mut child = cat().spawn_async().unwrap();
@@ -96,9 +108,12 @@ fn drop_kills() {
     let writer = write_all(stdin, b"1234").then(|_| Ok(()));
     let reader = read_to_end(stdout, Vec::new());
 
-    let future = writer.join(reader).map(|(_, (_, out))| out);
+    let (_, output) = support::CurrentThreadRuntime::new()
+        .expect("failed to get rt")
+        .spawn(writer)
+        .block_on(support::with_timeout(reader))
+        .expect("failed to get output");
 
-    let output = support::run_with_timeout(future).unwrap();
     assert_eq!(output.len(), 0);
 }
 
diff --git a/tests/support/mod.rs b/tests/support/mod.rs
index 38435c8cd..0e9ce6845 100644
--- a/tests/support/mod.rs
+++ b/tests/support/mod.rs
@@ -2,12 +2,13 @@ extern crate futures;
 extern crate tokio;
 
 use self::futures::Future;
-use self::tokio::runtime::current_thread;
 use self::tokio::timer::Timeout;
 use std::env;
 use std::process::Command;
 use std::time::Duration;
 
+pub use self::tokio::runtime::current_thread::Runtime as CurrentThreadRuntime;
+
 pub fn cmd(s: &str) -> Command {
     let mut me = env::current_exe().unwrap();
     me.pop();
@@ -18,8 +19,8 @@ pub fn cmd(s: &str) -> Command {
     Command::new(me)
 }
 
-fn with_timeout<F: Future>(future: F) -> impl Future<Item = F::Item, Error = F::Error> {
-    Timeout::new(future, Duration::from_secs(1)).map_err(|e| {
+pub fn with_timeout<F: Future>(future: F) -> impl Future<Item = F::Item, Error = F::Error> {
+    Timeout::new(future, Duration::from_secs(3)).map_err(|e| {
         if e.is_timer() {
             panic!("failed to register timer");
         } else if e.is_elapsed() {
@@ -37,6 +38,6 @@ where
     // NB: Timeout requires a timer registration which is provided by
     // tokio's `current_thread::Runtime`, but isn't available by just using
     // tokio's default CurrentThread executor which powers `current_thread::block_on_all`.
-    let mut rt = current_thread::Runtime::new().expect("failed to get runtime");
+    let mut rt = CurrentThreadRuntime::new().expect("failed to get runtime");
     rt.block_on(with_timeout(future))
 }