diff --git a/t/t0015-cron.t b/t/t0015-cron.t
index f2f800a2248d..b3fd6e5e0c91 100755
--- a/t/t0015-cron.t
+++ b/t/t0015-cron.t
@@ -274,11 +274,8 @@ test_expect_success 'flux-cron can set stop-on-failure' '
 '
 
 ##  Reload cron module with sync enabled
-test_expect_success 'flux module remove cron' '
-    flux module remove cron
-'
-test_expect_success 'module load with sync' '
-    flux module load cron sync=cron.sync sync_epsilon=0.025
+test_expect_success 'module reload with sync' '
+    flux module reload cron sync=cron.sync sync_epsilon=0.025
 '
 test_expect_success 'sync and sync_epsilon are set as expected' '
     flux cron sync | grep "cron\.sync.*epsilon=0.025"
diff --git a/t/t1003-kvs-stress.t b/t/t1003-kvs-stress.t
index 0a37f84885f6..ca3837cf6bf3 100755
--- a/t/t1003-kvs-stress.t
+++ b/t/t1003-kvs-stress.t
@@ -126,8 +126,7 @@ test_expect_success 'kvs: test that KVS_NO_MERGE works with kvs_commit()' '
 # transaction-merge option test
 test_expect_success 'kvs: transaction-merge disabling works' '
         THREADS=64 &&
-        flux module remove kvs &&
-        flux module load kvs transaction-merge=0 &&
+        flux module reload kvs transaction-merge=0 &&
         OUTPUT=`${FLUX_BUILD_DIR}/t/kvs/transactionmerge ${THREADS} $(basename ${SHARNESS_TEST_FILE})` &&
 	test "$OUTPUT" = "${THREADS}"
 '
diff --git a/t/t2200-job-ingest.t b/t/t2200-job-ingest.t
index 7281bf6eaa58..7bcb4fa49a4a 100755
--- a/t/t2200-job-ingest.t
+++ b/t/t2200-job-ingest.t
@@ -152,8 +152,7 @@ test_expect_success 'submit request with empty payload fails with EPROTO(71)' '
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'job-ingest: test validator with version 1 enforced' '
-	flux exec -r all flux module remove job-ingest &&
-	flux exec -r all flux module load job-ingest \
+	flux exec -r all flux module reload job-ingest \
 		validator=${BINDINGS_VALIDATOR} validator-args="--require-version,1"
 '
 
@@ -162,8 +161,7 @@ test_expect_success 'job-ingest: v1 jobspecs accepted with v1 requirement' '
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'job-ingest: test non-python validator' '
-	flux exec -r all flux module remove job-ingest &&
-	flux exec -r all flux module load job-ingest \
+	flux exec -r all flux module reload job-ingest \
 		validator=${FAKE_VALIDATOR}
 '
 
@@ -172,8 +170,7 @@ test_expect_success 'job-ingest: submit succeeds with non-python validator' '
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'job-ingest: test python jsonschema validator' '
-	flux exec -r all flux module remove job-ingest &&
-	flux exec -r all flux module load job-ingest \
+	flux exec -r all flux module reload job-ingest \
 		validator=${JSONSCHEMA_VALIDATOR} validator-args=--schema,${SCHEMA}
 '
 
@@ -190,8 +187,7 @@ test_expect_success 'job-ingest: invalid jobs rejected by jsonschema validator'
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'job-ingest: validator unexpected exit is handled' '
-	flux exec -r all flux module remove job-ingest &&
-	flux exec -r all flux module load job-ingest \
+	flux exec -r all flux module reload job-ingest \
 		validator=${BAD_VALIDATOR} &&
 	test_must_fail flux job submit basic.json 2>badvalidator.out &&
 	grep "unexpectedly exited" badvalidator.out
diff --git a/t/t2202-job-manager.t b/t/t2202-job-manager.t
index d3856d7c42f1..ada57717a3af 100755
--- a/t/t2202-job-manager.t
+++ b/t/t2202-job-manager.t
@@ -160,8 +160,7 @@ test_expect_success 'job-manager: that job is now the first job' '
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'job-manager: reload the job manager' '
-	flux module remove job-manager &&
-	flux module load job-manager
+	flux module reload job-manager
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'job-manager: queue was successfully reconstructed' '
@@ -229,8 +228,7 @@ test_expect_success 'job-manager: no jobs in the queue' '
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'job-manager: reload the job manager' '
-	flux module remove job-manager &&
-	flux module load job-manager
+	flux module reload job-manager
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'job-manager: still no jobs in the queue' '
diff --git a/t/t2203-job-manager-dummysched.t b/t/t2203-job-manager-dummysched.t
index 152d8d9e6996..27aa46f79fb8 100755
--- a/t/t2203-job-manager-dummysched.t
+++ b/t/t2203-job-manager-dummysched.t
@@ -95,8 +95,7 @@ test_expect_success 'job-manager: canceled job has exception, free events' '
 
 test_expect_success 'job-manager: reload sched-dummy --cores=4' '
 	flux dmesg -C &&
-	flux module remove sched-dummy &&
-	flux module load ${SCHED_DUMMY} --cores=4 &&
+	flux module reload ${SCHED_DUMMY} --cores=4 &&
 	flux dmesg | grep "hello_cb:" >hello.dmesg
 '
 
diff --git a/t/t2204-job-info.t b/t/t2204-job-info.t
index 5f6acb085841..56f773c8870e 100755
--- a/t/t2204-job-info.t
+++ b/t/t2204-job-info.t
@@ -343,8 +343,7 @@ wait_inactive() {
 }
 
 test_expect_success 'reload the job-info module' '
-        flux exec -r all flux module remove job-info &&
-        flux exec -r all flux module load job-info &&
+        flux exec -r all flux module reload job-info &&
         wait_inactive
 '
 
@@ -435,8 +434,7 @@ test_expect_success 'flux job lists full path for job name if first argument not
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'reload the job-info module' '
-        flux exec -r all flux module remove job-info &&
-        flux exec -r all flux module load job-info
+        flux exec -r all flux module reload job-info
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'verify job names preserved across restart' '
@@ -471,8 +469,7 @@ test_expect_success 'flux job list outputs ntasks correctly (4 tasks)' '
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'reload the job-info module' '
-        flux exec -r all flux module remove job-info &&
-        flux exec -r all flux module load job-info
+        flux exec -r all flux module reload job-info
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'verify task count preserved across restart' '
@@ -525,8 +522,7 @@ test_expect_success 'flux job list outputs nnodes/ranks correctly (5 tasks, / 3
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'reload the job-info module' '
-        flux exec -r all flux module remove job-info &&
-        flux exec -r all flux module load job-info
+        flux exec -r all flux module reload job-info
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'verify nnodes preserved across restart' '
diff --git a/t/t2300-sched-simple.t b/t/t2300-sched-simple.t
index 7e5766951be2..3dc85fb0dcb6 100755
--- a/t/t2300-sched-simple.t
+++ b/t/t2300-sched-simple.t
@@ -27,8 +27,7 @@ list_R() {
 }
 
 test_expect_success 'sched-simple: reload ingest module with lax validator' '
-        flux exec -r all flux module remove job-ingest &&
-	flux exec -r all flux module load job-ingest validator-args="--schema,${SCHEMA}" \
+	flux exec -r all flux module reload job-ingest validator-args="--schema,${SCHEMA}" \
          validator=${JSONSCHEMA_VALIDATOR}
 '
 test_expect_success 'sched-simple: generate jobspec for simple test job' '
@@ -103,8 +102,7 @@ test_expect_success 'sched-simple: cancel all jobs' '
 	test "$($query)" = "rank[0-1]/core[0-1]"
 '
 test_expect_success 'sched-simple: reload in best-fit mode' '
-	flux module remove sched-simple &&
-	flux module load sched-simple mode=best-fit
+	flux module reload sched-simple mode=best-fit
 '
 test_expect_success 'sched-simple: submit 5 more jobs' '
 	flux job submit basic.json >job6.id &&
@@ -161,8 +159,7 @@ test_expect_success 'sched-simple: check allocations for running jobs' '
 	test_cmp first-fit-allocs.expected first-fit-allocs.out
 '
 test_expect_success 'sched-simple: reload with outstanding allocations' '
-	flux module remove sched-simple &&
-	flux module load sched-simple &&
+	flux module reload sched-simple &&
 	flux dmesg | grep "hello: alloc rank0/core0" &&
 	test "$($query)" = ""
 '