diff --git a/src/app/core/auth/auth-request.service.spec.ts b/src/app/core/auth/auth-request.service.spec.ts
index 704922c5b5..063aad612f 100644
--- a/src/app/core/auth/auth-request.service.spec.ts
+++ b/src/app/core/auth/auth-request.service.spec.ts
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import { HttpOptions } from '../dspace-rest/dspace-rest.service';
 import objectContaining = jasmine.objectContaining;
 import { AuthStatus } from './models/auth-status.model';
 import { RestRequestMethod } from '../data/rest-request-method';
+import { Observable, of as observableOf } from 'rxjs';
 
 describe(`AuthRequestService`, () => {
   let halService: HALEndpointService;
@@ -34,8 +35,8 @@ describe(`AuthRequestService`, () => {
       super(hes, rs, rdbs);
     }
 
-    protected createShortLivedTokenRequest(href: string): PostRequest {
-      return new PostRequest(this.requestService.generateRequestId(), href);
+    protected createShortLivedTokenRequest(href: string): Observable<PostRequest> {
+      return observableOf(new PostRequest(this.requestService.generateRequestId(), href));
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/src/app/core/auth/browser-auth-request.service.spec.ts b/src/app/core/auth/browser-auth-request.service.spec.ts
index 18d27340af..2875553feb 100644
--- a/src/app/core/auth/browser-auth-request.service.spec.ts
+++ b/src/app/core/auth/browser-auth-request.service.spec.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 import { AuthRequestService } from './auth-request.service';
 import { RequestService } from '../data/request.service';
 import { BrowserAuthRequestService } from './browser-auth-request.service';
+import { Observable } from 'rxjs';
+import { PostRequest } from '../data/request.models';
 
 describe(`BrowserAuthRequestService`, () => {
   let href: string;
@@ -17,13 +19,17 @@ describe(`BrowserAuthRequestService`, () => {
 
   describe(`createShortLivedTokenRequest`, () => {
     it(`should return a PostRequest`, () => {
-      const result = (service as any).createShortLivedTokenRequest(href);
-      expect(result.constructor.name).toBe('PostRequest');
+      const obs = (service as any).createShortLivedTokenRequest(href) as Observable<PostRequest>;
+      obs.subscribe((result: PostRequest) => {
+        expect(result.constructor.name).toBe('PostRequest');
+      });
     });
 
     it(`should return a request with the given href`, () => {
-      const result = (service as any).createShortLivedTokenRequest(href);
-      expect(result.href).toBe(href) ;
+      const obs = (service as any).createShortLivedTokenRequest(href) as Observable<PostRequest>;
+      obs.subscribe((result: PostRequest) => {
+        expect(result.href).toBe(href);
+      });
     });
   });
 });
diff --git a/src/app/core/auth/server-auth-request.service.spec.ts b/src/app/core/auth/server-auth-request.service.spec.ts
index 2612f9d5b4..181603eef7 100644
--- a/src/app/core/auth/server-auth-request.service.spec.ts
+++ b/src/app/core/auth/server-auth-request.service.spec.ts
@@ -1,44 +1,60 @@
 import { AuthRequestService } from './auth-request.service';
 import { RequestService } from '../data/request.service';
 import { ServerAuthRequestService } from './server-auth-request.service';
-import { HttpXsrfTokenExtractorMock } from '../../shared/mocks/http-xsrf-token-extractor.mock';
+import { HttpClient, HttpHeaders, HttpResponse } from '@angular/common/http';
+import { Observable, of as observableOf } from 'rxjs';
+import { XSRF_RESPONSE_HEADER } from '../xsrf/xsrf.interceptor';
+import { HALEndpointService } from '../shared/hal-endpoint.service';
+import { PostRequest } from '../data/request.models';
 
 describe(`ServerAuthRequestService`, () => {
   let href: string;
   let requestService: RequestService;
   let service: AuthRequestService;
-  let xsrfExtractor: HttpXsrfTokenExtractorMock;
-
-  const mockToken = 'mockToken';
+  let httpClient: HttpClient;
+  let httpResponse: HttpResponse<any>;
+  let halService: HALEndpointService;
+  const mockToken = 'mock-token';
 
   beforeEach(() => {
     href = 'https://rest.api/auth/shortlivedtokens';
     requestService = jasmine.createSpyObj('requestService', {
       'generateRequestId': '8bb0582d-5013-4337-af9c-763beb25aae2'
     });
-    xsrfExtractor = new  HttpXsrfTokenExtractorMock(mockToken);
-    service = new ServerAuthRequestService(null, requestService, null, xsrfExtractor);
+    httpResponse = {
+      body: { bar: false },
+      headers: new HttpHeaders({ XSRF_RESPONSE_HEADER: mockToken }),
+      statusText: '200'
+    } as HttpResponse<any>;
+    httpClient = jasmine.createSpyObj('httpClient', {
+      get: observableOf(httpResponse),
+    });
+    halService = jasmine.createSpyObj('halService', {
+      'getRootHref': '/api'
+    });
+    service = new ServerAuthRequestService(halService, requestService, null, httpClient);
   });
 
   describe(`createShortLivedTokenRequest`, () => {
     it(`should return a PostRequest`, () => {
-      const result = (service as any).createShortLivedTokenRequest(href);
-      expect(result.constructor.name).toBe('PostRequest');
+      const obs = (service as any).createShortLivedTokenRequest(href) as Observable<PostRequest>;
+      obs.subscribe((result: PostRequest) => {
+        expect(result.constructor.name).toBe('PostRequest');
+      });
     });
 
     it(`should return a request with the given href`, () => {
-      const result = (service as any).createShortLivedTokenRequest(href);
-      expect(result.href).toBe(href) ;
+      const obs = (service as any).createShortLivedTokenRequest(href) as Observable<PostRequest>;
+      obs.subscribe((result: PostRequest) => {
+        expect(result.href).toBe(href) ;
+      });
     });
 
     it(`should return a request with a xsrf header`, () => {
-      const result = (service as any).createShortLivedTokenRequest(href);
-      expect(result.options.headers.get('X-XSRF-TOKEN')).toBe(mockToken);
-    });
-
-    it(`should have a responseMsToLive of 2 seconds`, () => {
-      const result = (service as any).createShortLivedTokenRequest(href);
-      expect(result.responseMsToLive).toBe(2 * 1000) ;
+      const obs = (service as any).createShortLivedTokenRequest(href) as Observable<PostRequest>;
+      obs.subscribe((result: PostRequest) => {
+        expect(result.options.headers.get(XSRF_RESPONSE_HEADER)).toBe(mockToken);
+      });
     });
   });
 });
diff --git a/src/app/core/auth/server-auth-request.service.ts b/src/app/core/auth/server-auth-request.service.ts
index 05131b7375..183e085589 100644
--- a/src/app/core/auth/server-auth-request.service.ts
+++ b/src/app/core/auth/server-auth-request.service.ts
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ import { RequestService } from '../data/request.service';
 import { RemoteDataBuildService } from '../cache/builders/remote-data-build.service';
 import {
   HttpHeaders,
-  HttpXsrfTokenExtractor,
   HttpClient,
   HttpResponse
 } from '@angular/common/http';
@@ -53,15 +52,16 @@ export class ServerAuthRequestService extends AuthRequestService {
           .set('Cookie', `${DSPACE_XSRF_COOKIE}=${xsrfToken}`)),
       map((headers: HttpHeaders) =>
         // Create a new PostRequest using those headers and the given href
-        new PostRequest(
+        Object.assign(new PostRequest(
           this.requestService.generateRequestId(),
           href,
           {},
           {
             headers: headers,
-          }
-        ))
-    )
+          },
+        ),{})
+      )
+    );
   }
 
 }
diff --git a/src/app/core/services/server-xhr.service.ts b/src/app/core/services/server-xhr.service.ts
index 835072bbd3..69ae741402 100644
--- a/src/app/core/services/server-xhr.service.ts
+++ b/src/app/core/services/server-xhr.service.ts
@@ -1,16 +1,16 @@
 import { XhrFactory } from '@angular/common';
 import { Injectable } from '@angular/core';
-import * as xhr2 from 'xhr2';
+import { prototype, XMLHttpRequest } from 'xhr2';
 
 /**
- * Overrides the default XhrFactoru server side, to allow us to set cookies in requests to the
+ * Overrides the default XhrFactory server side, to allow us to set cookies in requests to the
  * backend. This was added to be able to perform a working XSRF request from the node server, as it
  * needs to set a cookie for the XSRF token
  */
 @Injectable()
 export class ServerXhrService implements XhrFactory {
   build(): XMLHttpRequest {
-    xhr2.prototype._restrictedHeaders.cookie = false;
-    return new xhr2.XMLHttpRequest();
+    prototype._restrictedHeaders.cookie = false;
+    return new XMLHttpRequest();
   }
 }