diff --git a/sys/ufs/ffs/ffs_softdep.c b/sys/ufs/ffs/ffs_softdep.c
index 023c21b1bd3..319b6d03c6f 100644
--- a/sys/ufs/ffs/ffs_softdep.c
+++ b/sys/ufs/ffs/ffs_softdep.c
@@ -2045,6 +2045,7 @@ softdep_setup_freeblocks(ip, length, flags)
 	MALLOC(freeblks, struct freeblks *, sizeof(struct freeblks),
 		M_FREEBLKS, M_SOFTDEP_FLAGS|M_ZERO);
 	freeblks->fb_list.wk_type = D_FREEBLKS;
+	freeblks->fb_state = ATTACHED;
 	freeblks->fb_uid = ip->i_uid;
 	freeblks->fb_previousinum = ip->i_number;
 	freeblks->fb_devvp = ip->i_devvp;
@@ -2180,6 +2181,20 @@ restart:
 	ACQUIRE_LOCK(&lk);
 	if (inodedep_lookup(fs, ip->i_number, 0, &inodedep) != 0)
 		(void) free_inodedep(inodedep);
+
+	if(delay) {
+		freeblks->fb_state |= DEPCOMPLETE;
+		/*
+		 * If the inode with zeroed block pointers is now on disk
+		 * we can start freeing blocks. Add freeblks to the worklist
+		 * instead of calling  handle_workitem_freeblocks directly as
+		 * it is more likely that additional IO is needed to complete
+		 * the request here than in the !delay case.
+		 */  
+		if ((freeblks->fb_state & ALLCOMPLETE) == ALLCOMPLETE)
+			add_to_worklist(&freeblks->fb_list);
+	}
+
 	FREE_LOCK(&lk);
 	/*
 	 * If the inode has never been written to disk (delay == 0),
@@ -4425,6 +4440,10 @@ handle_written_inodeblock(inodedep, bp)
 			continue;
 
 		case D_FREEBLKS:
+			wk->wk_state |= COMPLETE;
+			if ((wk->wk_state  & ALLCOMPLETE) != ALLCOMPLETE)
+				continue;
+			 /* -- fall through -- */
 		case D_FREEFRAG:
 		case D_DIRREM:
 			add_to_worklist(wk);
diff --git a/sys/ufs/ffs/softdep.h b/sys/ufs/ffs/softdep.h
index 89d755e9923..38486447ac9 100644
--- a/sys/ufs/ffs/softdep.h
+++ b/sys/ufs/ffs/softdep.h
@@ -429,6 +429,7 @@ struct freefrag {
  */
 struct freeblks {
 	struct	worklist fb_list;	/* id_inowait or delayed worklist */
+#	define	fb_state fb_list.wk_state /* inode and dirty block state */
 	ino_t	fb_previousinum;	/* inode of previous owner of blocks */
 	uid_t	fb_uid;			/* uid of previous owner of blocks */
 	struct	vnode *fb_devvp;	/* filesystem device vnode */