diff --git a/pkg/acsengine/defaults.go b/pkg/acsengine/defaults.go
index be183ebce5..161f7a7436 100644
--- a/pkg/acsengine/defaults.go
+++ b/pkg/acsengine/defaults.go
@@ -351,30 +351,33 @@ func setOrchestratorDefaults(cs *api.ContainerService, isUpdate bool) {
 			o.KubernetesConfig.ServiceCIDR = DefaultKubernetesServiceCIDR
 		}
 		// Enforce sane cloudprovider backoff defaults, if CloudProviderBackoff is true in KubernetesConfig
-		o.KubernetesConfig.CloudProviderBackoff = true
-		if o.KubernetesConfig.CloudProviderBackoffDuration == 0 {
-			o.KubernetesConfig.CloudProviderBackoffDuration = DefaultKubernetesCloudProviderBackoffDuration
-		}
-		if o.KubernetesConfig.CloudProviderBackoffExponent == 0 {
-			o.KubernetesConfig.CloudProviderBackoffExponent = DefaultKubernetesCloudProviderBackoffExponent
-		}
-		if o.KubernetesConfig.CloudProviderBackoffJitter == 0 {
-			o.KubernetesConfig.CloudProviderBackoffJitter = DefaultKubernetesCloudProviderBackoffJitter
-		}
-		if o.KubernetesConfig.CloudProviderBackoffRetries == 0 {
-			o.KubernetesConfig.CloudProviderBackoffRetries = DefaultKubernetesCloudProviderBackoffRetries
+		if o.KubernetesConfig.CloudProviderBackoff {
+			if o.KubernetesConfig.CloudProviderBackoffDuration == 0 {
+				o.KubernetesConfig.CloudProviderBackoffDuration = DefaultKubernetesCloudProviderBackoffDuration
+			}
+			if o.KubernetesConfig.CloudProviderBackoffExponent == 0 {
+				o.KubernetesConfig.CloudProviderBackoffExponent = DefaultKubernetesCloudProviderBackoffExponent
+			}
+			if o.KubernetesConfig.CloudProviderBackoffJitter == 0 {
+				o.KubernetesConfig.CloudProviderBackoffJitter = DefaultKubernetesCloudProviderBackoffJitter
+			}
+			if o.KubernetesConfig.CloudProviderBackoffRetries == 0 {
+				o.KubernetesConfig.CloudProviderBackoffRetries = DefaultKubernetesCloudProviderBackoffRetries
+			}
 		}
+
 		k8sSemVer, _ := semver.Make(k8sVersion)
 		minVersion, _ := semver.Make("1.6.6")
 		// Enforce sane cloudprovider rate limit defaults, if CloudProviderRateLimit is true in KubernetesConfig
 		// For k8s version greater or equal to 1.6.6, we will set the default CloudProviderRate* settings
-		o.KubernetesConfig.CloudProviderRateLimit = true
 		if o.KubernetesConfig.CloudProviderRateLimit && k8sSemVer.GTE(minVersion) {
-			if o.KubernetesConfig.CloudProviderRateLimitQPS == 0 {
-				o.KubernetesConfig.CloudProviderRateLimitQPS = DefaultKubernetesCloudProviderRateLimitQPS
-			}
-			if o.KubernetesConfig.CloudProviderRateLimitBucket == 0 {
-				o.KubernetesConfig.CloudProviderRateLimitBucket = DefaultKubernetesCloudProviderRateLimitBucket
+			if o.KubernetesConfig.CloudProviderRateLimit && k8sSemVer.GTE(minVersion) {
+				if o.KubernetesConfig.CloudProviderRateLimitQPS == 0 {
+					o.KubernetesConfig.CloudProviderRateLimitQPS = DefaultKubernetesCloudProviderRateLimitQPS
+				}
+				if o.KubernetesConfig.CloudProviderRateLimitBucket == 0 {
+					o.KubernetesConfig.CloudProviderRateLimitBucket = DefaultKubernetesCloudProviderRateLimitBucket
+				}
 			}
 		}