diff --git a/pkg/kv/kvserver/closed_timestamp_test.go b/pkg/kv/kvserver/closed_timestamp_test.go
index 8b15fa14a611..25ce3c6ba057 100644
--- a/pkg/kv/kvserver/closed_timestamp_test.go
+++ b/pkg/kv/kvserver/closed_timestamp_test.go
@@ -1197,9 +1197,15 @@ func setupClusterForClosedTSTesting(
 SET CLUSTER SETTING kv.closed_timestamp.target_duration = '%s';
 SET CLUSTER SETTING kv.closed_timestamp.side_transport_interval = '%s';
 SET CLUSTER SETTING kv.closed_timestamp.follower_reads_enabled = true;
+SET CLUSTER SETTING kv.allocator.load_based_rebalancing = 'off';
 `, targetDuration, targetDuration/4),
 		";")...)
 
+	// Disable replicate queues to avoid errant lease transfers.
+	//
+	// See: https://github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/issues/101824.
+	tc.ToggleReplicateQueues(false)
+
 	return tc, tc.ServerConn(0), desc
 }
 
diff --git a/pkg/testutils/serverutils/test_cluster_shim.go b/pkg/testutils/serverutils/test_cluster_shim.go
index dad40b120bde..d580773cefa4 100644
--- a/pkg/testutils/serverutils/test_cluster_shim.go
+++ b/pkg/testutils/serverutils/test_cluster_shim.go
@@ -231,6 +231,10 @@ type TestClusterInterface interface {
 	// TODO(radu): we should verify that the queries in tests using SplitTable
 	// are indeed distributed as intended.
 	SplitTable(t *testing.T, desc catalog.TableDescriptor, sps []SplitPoint)
+
+	// ToggleReplicateQueues activates or deactivates the replication queues on all
+	// the stores on all the nodes.
+	ToggleReplicateQueues(active bool)
 }
 
 // SplitPoint describes a split point that is passed to SplitTable.