diff --git a/src/modules/wreck/job.c b/src/modules/wreck/job.c
index a6c4d106f307..aa5786678b1a 100644
--- a/src/modules/wreck/job.c
+++ b/src/modules/wreck/job.c
@@ -776,22 +776,6 @@ static int runevent_fallback (flux_t *h, struct wreck_job *job)
     return 0;
 }
 
-static bool Rlite_targets_this_node (flux_t *h, const char *key,
-                                     const char *R_lite)
-{
-    rcalc_t *r = NULL;
-    bool result;
-
-    if (!(r = rcalc_create (R_lite))) {
-        if (broker_rank == 0)
-            flux_log (h, LOG_ERR, "Unable to parse %s", key);
-        return false;
-    }
-    result = rcalc_has_rank (r, broker_rank);
-    rcalc_destroy (r);
-    return result;
-}
-
 /* Handle response to lookup of R_lite.  If this node is targetted,
  * spawn wrexecd.  If R_lite doesn't exist, fallback to old method
  * of looking up rank.N, with one more continuation.
@@ -802,6 +786,7 @@ static void runevent_continuation (flux_future_t *f, void *arg)
     flux_t *h = flux_future_get_flux (f);
     const char *key = flux_kvs_lookup_get_key (f);
     const char *R_lite;
+    rcalc_t *r = NULL;
 
     if (flux_kvs_lookup_get (f, &R_lite) < 0) {
         if (broker_rank == 0)
@@ -812,8 +797,17 @@ static void runevent_continuation (flux_future_t *f, void *arg)
         }
         goto done;
     }
-    if (!Rlite_targets_this_node (h, key, R_lite))
+    if (!(r = rcalc_create (R_lite))) {
+        flux_log (h, LOG_ERR, "Unable to parse %s", key);
         goto done_destroy;
+    }
+    if (!rcalc_has_rank (r, broker_rank)) {
+        rcalc_destroy (r);
+        goto done_destroy;
+    }
+    if (wreck_job_set (job, "rcalc", r, (flux_free_f) rcalc_destroy) < 0)
+        flux_log_error (h, "wreck_job_set (rcalc)");
+
     if (spawn_exec_handler (h, job) < 0)
         goto done_destroy;
 done_destroy: