diff --git a/controllers/remote/cluster_cache_tracker.go b/controllers/remote/cluster_cache_tracker.go
index 9bd40ceab13f..3f620743e7c4 100644
--- a/controllers/remote/cluster_cache_tracker.go
+++ b/controllers/remote/cluster_cache_tracker.go
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 	corev1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
 	apierrors "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/errors"
+	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/meta"
 	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime/serializer"
@@ -295,8 +296,8 @@ func (t *ClusterCacheTracker) newClusterAccessor(ctx context.Context, cluster cl
 		return nil, errors.Wrapf(err, "error fetching REST client config for remote cluster %q", cluster.String())
 	}
 
-	// Create a client and a cache for the cluster.
-	c, uncachedClient, cache, err := t.createClient(ctx, config, cluster, indexes)
+	// Create an uncached client for the cluster.
+	uncachedClient, err := t.createUncachedClient(ctx, config, cluster)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
@@ -308,6 +309,9 @@ func (t *ClusterCacheTracker) newClusterAccessor(ctx context.Context, cluster cl
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
+	var c client.Client
+	var cache *stoppableCache
+
 	// If the controller runs on the workload cluster, access the apiserver directly by using the
 	// CA and Host from the in-cluster configuration.
 	if runningOnCluster {
@@ -321,13 +325,19 @@ func (t *ClusterCacheTracker) newClusterAccessor(ctx context.Context, cluster cl
 		config.CAFile = inClusterConfig.CAFile
 		config.Host = inClusterConfig.Host
 
-		// Create a new client and overwrite the previously created client.
-		c, _, cache, err = t.createClient(ctx, config, cluster, indexes)
+		// Create a client and a cache for the cluster, using the in-cluster config.
+		c, cache, err = t.createCachedClient(ctx, config, cluster, indexes)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "error creating client for self-hosted cluster")
 		}
 		log.Info(fmt.Sprintf("Creating cluster accessor for cluster %q with in-cluster service %q", cluster.String(), config.Host))
 	} else {
+		// Create a client and a cache for the cluster.
+		c, cache, err = t.createCachedClient(ctx, config, cluster, indexes)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+
 		log.Info(fmt.Sprintf("Creating cluster accessor for cluster %q with the regular apiserver endpoint %q", cluster.String(), config.Host))
 	}
 
@@ -374,18 +384,18 @@ func (t *ClusterCacheTracker) runningOnWorkloadCluster(ctx context.Context, c cl
 	return t.controllerPodMetadata.UID == pod.UID, nil
 }
 
-// createClient creates a cached client, and uncached client and a mapper based on a rest.Config.
-func (t *ClusterCacheTracker) createClient(ctx context.Context, config *rest.Config, cluster client.ObjectKey, indexes []Index) (client.Client, client.Client, *stoppableCache, error) {
+// createHttpClientAndMapper creates a http client and a dynamic rest mapper for the given cluster, based on the rest.Config.
+func (t *ClusterCacheTracker) createHttpClientAndMapper(ctx context.Context, config *rest.Config, cluster client.ObjectKey) (*http.Client, meta.RESTMapper, error) {
 	// Create a http client for the cluster.
 	httpClient, err := rest.HTTPClientFor(config)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, nil, nil, errors.Wrapf(err, "error creating client for remote cluster %q: error creating http client", cluster.String())
+		return nil, nil, errors.Wrapf(err, "error creating client for remote cluster %q: error creating http client", cluster.String())
 	}
 
 	// Create a mapper for it
 	mapper, err := apiutil.NewDynamicRESTMapper(config, httpClient)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, nil, nil, errors.Wrapf(err, "error creating client for remote cluster %q: error creating dynamic rest mapper", cluster.String())
+		return nil, nil, errors.Wrapf(err, "error creating client for remote cluster %q: error creating dynamic rest mapper", cluster.String())
 	}
 
 	// Verify if we can get a rest mapping from the workload cluster apiserver.
@@ -393,7 +403,39 @@ func (t *ClusterCacheTracker) createClient(ctx context.Context, config *rest.Con
 	// to avoid further effort creating a cache and a client and to produce a clearer error message.
 	_, err = mapper.RESTMapping(corev1.SchemeGroupVersion.WithKind("Node").GroupKind(), corev1.SchemeGroupVersion.Version)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, nil, nil, errors.Wrapf(err, "error creating client for remote cluster %q: error getting rest mapping", cluster.String())
+		return nil, nil, errors.Wrapf(err, "error creating client for remote cluster %q: error getting rest mapping", cluster.String())
+	}
+
+	return httpClient, mapper, nil
+}
+
+// createUncachedClient creates an uncached client for the given cluster, based on the rest.Config.
+func (t *ClusterCacheTracker) createUncachedClient(ctx context.Context, config *rest.Config, cluster client.ObjectKey) (client.Client, error) {
+	// Create a http client and a mapper for the cluster.
+	httpClient, mapper, err := t.createHttpClientAndMapper(ctx, config, cluster)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, errors.Wrapf(err, "error creating client for remote cluster %q", cluster.String())
+	}
+
+	// Create the uncached client for the remote cluster
+	uncachedClient, err := client.New(config, client.Options{
+		Scheme:     t.scheme,
+		Mapper:     mapper,
+		HTTPClient: httpClient,
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, errors.Wrapf(err, "error creating uncached client for remote cluster %q", cluster.String())
+	}
+
+	return uncachedClient, nil
+}
+
+// createCachedClient creates a cached client for the given cluster, based on a rest.Config.
+func (t *ClusterCacheTracker) createCachedClient(ctx context.Context, config *rest.Config, cluster client.ObjectKey, indexes []Index) (client.Client, *stoppableCache, error) {
+	// Create a http client and a mapper for the cluster.
+	httpClient, mapper, err := t.createHttpClientAndMapper(ctx, config, cluster)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, nil, errors.Wrapf(err, "error creating client for remote cluster %q", cluster.String())
 	}
 
 	// Create the cache for the remote cluster
@@ -404,7 +446,7 @@ func (t *ClusterCacheTracker) createClient(ctx context.Context, config *rest.Con
 	}
 	remoteCache, err := cache.New(config, cacheOptions)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, nil, nil, errors.Wrapf(err, "error creating client for remote cluster %q: error creating cache", cluster.String())
+		return nil, nil, errors.Wrapf(err, "error creating client for remote cluster %q: error creating cache", cluster.String())
 	}
 
 	cacheCtx, cacheCtxCancel := context.WithCancel(ctx)
@@ -417,7 +459,7 @@ func (t *ClusterCacheTracker) createClient(ctx context.Context, config *rest.Con
 
 	for _, index := range indexes {
 		if err := cache.IndexField(ctx, index.Object, index.Field, index.ExtractValue); err != nil {
-			return nil, nil, nil, errors.Wrapf(err, "error adding index for field %q to cache for remote cluster %q", index.Field, cluster.String())
+			return nil, nil, errors.Wrapf(err, "error adding index for field %q to cache for remote cluster %q", index.Field, cluster.String())
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -433,19 +475,9 @@ func (t *ClusterCacheTracker) createClient(ctx context.Context, config *rest.Con
 		},
 	})
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, nil, nil, errors.Wrapf(err, "error creating client for remote cluster %q", cluster.String())
+		return nil, nil, errors.Wrapf(err, "error creating cached client for remote cluster %q", cluster.String())
 	}
 
-	// Create an uncached client. This is used in `runningOnWorkloadCluster` to ensure we don't continuously cache
-	// pods in the client.
-	uncachedClient, err := client.New(config, client.Options{
-		Scheme:     t.scheme,
-		Mapper:     mapper,
-		HTTPClient: httpClient,
-	})
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, nil, nil, errors.Wrapf(err, "error creating uncached client for remote cluster %q", cluster.String())
-	}
 	// Start the cache!!!
 	go cache.Start(cacheCtx) //nolint:errcheck
 
@@ -454,7 +486,7 @@ func (t *ClusterCacheTracker) createClient(ctx context.Context, config *rest.Con
 	defer cacheSyncCtxCancel()
 	if !cache.WaitForCacheSync(cacheSyncCtx) {
 		cache.Stop()
-		return nil, nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("failed waiting for cache for remote cluster %v to sync: %w", cluster, cacheCtx.Err())
+		return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("failed waiting for cache for remote cluster %v to sync: %w", cluster, cacheCtx.Err())
 	}
 
 	// Wrap the cached client with a client that sets timeouts on all Get and List calls
@@ -471,7 +503,7 @@ func (t *ClusterCacheTracker) createClient(ctx context.Context, config *rest.Con
 		httpClient: httpClient,
 	})
 
-	return cachedClient, uncachedClient, cache, nil
+	return cachedClient, cache, nil
 }
 
 // deleteAccessor stops a clusterAccessor's cache and removes the clusterAccessor from the tracker.