diff --git a/changelog/unreleased/SOLR-17715-remove-qt-param-from-queryrequest.yml b/changelog/unreleased/SOLR-17715-remove-qt-param-from-queryrequest.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..71de6bf86459
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/unreleased/SOLR-17715-remove-qt-param-from-queryrequest.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+# See https://github.com/apache/solr/blob/main/dev-docs/changelog.adoc
+title: >
+  QueryRequest.java in SolrJ no longer sends the 'qt' parameter to the server.
+type: changed # added, changed, fixed, deprecated, removed, dependency_update, security, other
+authors:
+  - name: r4mercur
+    nick: r4mercur
+links:
+  - name: SOLR-17715
+    url: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/SOLR-17715
+  - name: PR#4397
+    url: https://github.com/apache/solr/pull/4397
diff --git a/solr/solrj/src/java/org/apache/solr/client/solrj/request/QueryRequest.java b/solr/solrj/src/java/org/apache/solr/client/solrj/request/QueryRequest.java
index 04b4d4e3a548..2ccf8d328b9f 100644
--- a/solr/solrj/src/java/org/apache/solr/client/solrj/request/QueryRequest.java
+++ b/solr/solrj/src/java/org/apache/solr/client/solrj/request/QueryRequest.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 import java.util.Objects;
 import org.apache.solr.client.solrj.response.QueryResponse;
 import org.apache.solr.common.params.CommonParams;
+import org.apache.solr.common.params.ModifiableSolrParams;
 import org.apache.solr.common.params.SolrParams;
 import org.apache.solr.common.util.NamedList;
 
@@ -33,31 +34,40 @@ public class QueryRequest extends CollectionRequiringSolrRequest<QueryResponse>
   private final SolrParams query;
 
   public QueryRequest() {
-    super(METHOD.GET, null, SolrRequestType.QUERY);
+    super(METHOD.GET, "/select", SolrRequestType.QUERY);
     query = SolrParams.of();
   }
 
   public QueryRequest(SolrParams q) {
-    super(METHOD.GET, null, SolrRequestType.QUERY);
-    query = Objects.requireNonNull(q);
+    super(METHOD.GET, pathFromParams(Objects.requireNonNull(q)), SolrRequestType.QUERY);
+    query = paramsWithoutQt(q);
   }
 
   public QueryRequest(SolrParams q, METHOD method) {
-    super(method, null, SolrRequestType.QUERY);
+    super(method, pathFromParams(Objects.requireNonNull(q)), SolrRequestType.QUERY);
+    query = paramsWithoutQt(q);
+  }
+
+  public QueryRequest(String path, SolrParams q) {
+    super(METHOD.GET, Objects.requireNonNull(path), SolrRequestType.QUERY);
     query = Objects.requireNonNull(q);
   }
 
-  /** Use the params 'QT' parameter if it exists */
-  @Override
-  public String getPath() {
-    String qt = query.get(CommonParams.QT);
-    if (qt == null) {
-      qt = super.getPath();
-    }
-    if (qt != null && qt.startsWith("/")) {
-      return qt;
-    }
-    return "/select";
+  public QueryRequest(String path, SolrParams q, METHOD method) {
+    super(method, Objects.requireNonNull(path), SolrRequestType.QUERY);
+    query = Objects.requireNonNull(q);
+  }
+
+  private static String pathFromParams(SolrParams q) {
+    String qt = q.get(CommonParams.QT);
+    return (qt != null && qt.startsWith("/")) ? qt : "/select";
+  }
+
+  private static SolrParams paramsWithoutQt(SolrParams q) {
+    if (q.get(CommonParams.QT) == null) return q;
+    ModifiableSolrParams params = new ModifiableSolrParams(q);
+    params.remove(CommonParams.QT);
+    return params;
   }
 
   // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/solr/solrj/src/test/org/apache/solr/client/solrj/request/QueryRequestTest.java b/solr/solrj/src/test/org/apache/solr/client/solrj/request/QueryRequestTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..dfc314c2e8c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/solr/solrj/src/test/org/apache/solr/client/solrj/request/QueryRequestTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.solr.client.solrj.request;
+
+import org.apache.solr.SolrTestCase;
+import org.apache.solr.client.solrj.SolrRequest;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+public class QueryRequestTest extends SolrTestCase {
+
+  @Test
+  public void testQtWithSlashBecomesPath() {
+    SolrQuery query = new SolrQuery("*:*");
+    query.setRequestHandler("/custom");
+
+    QueryRequest request = new QueryRequest(query);
+
+    assertEquals("/custom", request.getPath());
+    assertNull("qt parameter should be removed from request params", request.getParams().get("qt"));
+    assertEquals("*:*", request.getParams().get("q"));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testQtWithoutSlashDefaultsToSelect() {
+    SolrQuery query = new SolrQuery("*:*");
+    query.setRequestHandler("custom");
+
+    QueryRequest request = new QueryRequest(query);
+
+    assertEquals("/select", request.getPath());
+    assertNull("qt parameter shouldn't be sent to server", request.getParams().get("qt"));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testDefaultPathToSelect() {
+    SolrQuery query = new SolrQuery("*:*");
+
+    QueryRequest request = new QueryRequest(query);
+
+    assertEquals("/select", request.getPath());
+    assertNull(request.getParams().get("qt"));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testExplicitPath() {
+    SolrQuery query = new SolrQuery("*:*");
+    QueryRequest request = new QueryRequest("/custom", query);
+
+    assertEquals("/custom", request.getPath());
+    assertNull("qt parameter must not be present", request.getParams().get("qt"));
+    assertEquals("*:*", request.getParams().get("q"));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testExplicitPathWithMethod() {
+    SolrQuery query = new SolrQuery("*:*");
+    QueryRequest request = new QueryRequest("/spell", query, SolrRequest.METHOD.POST);
+
+    assertEquals("/spell", request.getPath());
+    assertEquals(SolrRequest.METHOD.POST, request.getMethod());
+    assertNull(request.getParams().get("qt"));
+  }
+}