diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 10533b9e..45f5d336 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -235,17 +235,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "event-listener",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "async-recursion"
-version = "1.0.5"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "5fd55a5ba1179988837d24ab4c7cc8ed6efdeff578ede0416b4225a5fca35bd0"
-dependencies = [
- "proc-macro2",
- "quote",
- "syn 2.0.38",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "async-stream"
 version = "0.3.5"
@@ -6595,7 +6584,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "arc-swap",
  "argh",
- "async-recursion",
  "async-stream",
  "async-stripe",
  "async-trait",
diff --git a/web3_proxy/Cargo.toml b/web3_proxy/Cargo.toml
index 3c88d628..2a9f45b2 100644
--- a/web3_proxy/Cargo.toml
+++ b/web3_proxy/Cargo.toml
@@ -40,7 +40,6 @@ siwe = { git = "https://github.com/llamanodes/siwe-rs", branch = "for_web3_proxy
 anyhow = { version = "1.0.75", features = ["backtrace"] }
 arc-swap = { version = "1.6.0" }
 argh = "0.1.12"
-async-recursion = "1.0.5"
 async-stream = "0.3.5"
 async-stripe = { version = "0.25.2", default-features = false, features = ["billing", "checkout", "connect", "runtime-tokio-hyper-rustls", "webhook-events"], optional = true }
 async-trait = "0.1.73"
diff --git a/web3_proxy/src/block_number.rs b/web3_proxy/src/block_number.rs
index 54c7c849..2ed7578d 100644
--- a/web3_proxy/src/block_number.rs
+++ b/web3_proxy/src/block_number.rs
@@ -1,6 +1,4 @@
 //! Helper functions for turning ether's BlockNumber into numbers and updating incoming queries to match.
-use std::time::Duration;
-
 use crate::app::Web3ProxyApp;
 use crate::jsonrpc::JsonRpcRequest;
 use crate::{
@@ -8,7 +6,6 @@ use crate::{
     rpcs::blockchain::Web3ProxyBlock,
 };
 use anyhow::Context;
-use async_recursion::async_recursion;
 use derive_more::From;
 use ethers::{
     prelude::{BlockNumber, U64},
@@ -68,7 +65,6 @@ impl From<&Web3ProxyBlock> for BlockNumAndHash {
 
 /// modify params to always have a block hash and not "latest"
 /// TODO: it would be nice to replace "latest" with the hash, but not all methods support that
-#[async_recursion]
 pub async fn clean_block_number<'a>(
     params: &'a mut serde_json::Value,
     block_param_id: usize,
@@ -109,7 +105,8 @@ pub async fn clean_block_number<'a>(
                         } else if let Some(app) = app {
                             let block = app
                                 .balanced_rpcs
-                                .block(&block_hash, None, None)
+                                .blocks_by_hash
+                                .get(&block_hash)
                                 .await
                                 .context("fetching block number from hash")?;
 
@@ -142,7 +139,8 @@ pub async fn clean_block_number<'a>(
                             // TODO: what should this max_wait be?
                             let block = app
                                 .balanced_rpcs
-                                .block(&block_hash, None, Some(Duration::from_secs(3)))
+                                .blocks_by_hash
+                                .get(&block_hash)
                                 .await
                                 .context("fetching block number from hash")?;
 
@@ -173,15 +171,18 @@ pub async fn clean_block_number<'a>(
                     if block_num == head_block_num {
                         (head_block.into(), changed)
                     } else if let Some(app) = app {
+                        // TODO: we used to make a query here, but thats causing problems with recursion now. come back to this
                         let block_hash = app
                             .balanced_rpcs
-                            .block_hash(&block_num)
+                            .blocks_by_number
+                            .get(&block_num)
                             .await
                             .context("fetching block hash from number")?;
 
                         let block = app
                             .balanced_rpcs
-                            .block(&block_hash, None, None)
+                            .blocks_by_hash
+                            .get(&block_hash)
                             .await
                             .context("fetching block from hash")?;
 
@@ -269,17 +270,8 @@ impl CacheMode {
                 warn!(
                     method = %request.method,
                     params = ?request.params,
-                    "no servers available to get block from params. caching with head block"
+                    "no servers available to get block from params but head block known. caching with head block"
                 );
-                if let Some(head_block) = head_block {
-                    // TODO: strange to get NoBlocksKnown **and** have a head block. think about this more
-                    CacheMode::Standard {
-                        block: head_block.into(),
-                        cache_errors: true,
-                    }
-                } else {
-                    CacheMode::Never
-                }
             }
             Err(err) => {
                 error!(
@@ -288,16 +280,17 @@ impl CacheMode {
                     ?err,
                     "could not get block from params. caching with head block"
                 );
-                if let Some(head_block) = head_block {
-                    CacheMode::Standard {
-                        block: head_block.into(),
-                        cache_errors: true,
-                    }
-                } else {
-                    CacheMode::Never
-                }
             }
         }
+
+        if let Some(head_block) = head_block {
+            CacheMode::Standard {
+                block: head_block.into(),
+                cache_errors: true,
+            }
+        } else {
+            CacheMode::Never
+        }
     }
 
     pub async fn try_new(
diff --git a/web3_proxy/src/rpcs/many.rs b/web3_proxy/src/rpcs/many.rs
index f4e63e30..c31984eb 100644
--- a/web3_proxy/src/rpcs/many.rs
+++ b/web3_proxy/src/rpcs/many.rs
@@ -50,9 +50,9 @@ pub struct Web3Rpcs {
     /// TODO: this map is going to grow forever unless we do some sort of pruning. maybe store pruned in redis?
     /// all blocks, including uncles
     /// TODO: i think uncles should be excluded
-    pub(super) blocks_by_hash: BlocksByHashCache,
+    pub(crate) blocks_by_hash: BlocksByHashCache,
     /// blocks on the heaviest chain
-    pub(super) blocks_by_number: BlocksByNumberCache,
+    pub(crate) blocks_by_number: BlocksByNumberCache,
     /// the number of rpcs required to agree on consensus for the head block (thundering herd protection)
     pub(super) min_synced_rpcs: usize,
     /// the soft limit required to agree on consensus for the head block. (thundering herd protection)