diff --git a/awx/api/generics.py b/awx/api/generics.py
index c86639ab95..3371e0bc09 100644
--- a/awx/api/generics.py
+++ b/awx/api/generics.py
@@ -5,13 +5,11 @@
 import inspect
 import logging
 import time
-import uuid
 
 # Django
 from django.conf import settings
 from django.contrib.auth import views as auth_views
 from django.contrib.contenttypes.models import ContentType
-from django.core.cache import cache
 from django.core.exceptions import FieldDoesNotExist
 from django.db import connection, transaction
 from django.db.models.fields.related import OneToOneRel
@@ -967,16 +965,11 @@ class CopyAPIView(GenericAPIView):
         if hasattr(new_obj, 'admin_role') and request.user not in new_obj.admin_role.members.all():
             new_obj.admin_role.members.add(request.user)
         if sub_objs:
-            # store the copied object dict into cache, because it's
-            # often too large for postgres' notification bus
-            # (which has a default maximum message size of 8k)
-            key = 'deep-copy-{}'.format(str(uuid.uuid4()))
-            cache.set(key, sub_objs, timeout=3600)
             permission_check_func = None
             if hasattr(type(self), 'deep_copy_permission_check_func'):
                 permission_check_func = (type(self).__module__, type(self).__name__, 'deep_copy_permission_check_func')
             trigger_delayed_deep_copy(
-                self.model.__module__, self.model.__name__, obj.pk, new_obj.pk, request.user.pk, key, permission_check_func=permission_check_func
+                self.model.__module__, self.model.__name__, obj.pk, new_obj.pk, request.user.pk, permission_check_func=permission_check_func
             )
         serializer = self._get_copy_return_serializer(new_obj)
         headers = {'Location': new_obj.get_absolute_url(request=request)}
diff --git a/awx/main/tasks/system.py b/awx/main/tasks/system.py
index 36fc266803..12b1981a85 100644
--- a/awx/main/tasks/system.py
+++ b/awx/main/tasks/system.py
@@ -893,15 +893,8 @@ def _reconstruct_relationships(copy_mapping):
 
 
 @task(queue=get_task_queuename)
-def deep_copy_model_obj(model_module, model_name, obj_pk, new_obj_pk, user_pk, uuid, permission_check_func=None):
-    sub_obj_list = cache.get(uuid)
-    if sub_obj_list is None:
-        logger.error('Deep copy {} from {} to {} failed unexpectedly.'.format(model_name, obj_pk, new_obj_pk))
-        return
-
+def deep_copy_model_obj(model_module, model_name, obj_pk, new_obj_pk, user_pk, permission_check_func=None):
     logger.debug('Deep copy {} from {} to {}.'.format(model_name, obj_pk, new_obj_pk))
-    from awx.api.generics import CopyAPIView
-    from awx.main.signals import disable_activity_stream
 
     model = getattr(importlib.import_module(model_module), model_name, None)
     if model is None:
@@ -913,6 +906,28 @@ def deep_copy_model_obj(model_module, model_name, obj_pk, new_obj_pk, user_pk, u
     except ObjectDoesNotExist:
         logger.warning("Object or user no longer exists.")
         return
+
+    o2m_to_preserve = {}
+    fields_to_preserve = set(getattr(model, 'FIELDS_TO_PRESERVE_AT_COPY', []))
+
+    for field in model._meta.get_fields():
+        if field.name in fields_to_preserve:
+            if field.one_to_many:
+                try:
+                    field_val = getattr(obj, field.name)
+                except AttributeError:
+                    continue
+                o2m_to_preserve[field.name] = field_val
+
+    sub_obj_list = []
+    for o2m in o2m_to_preserve:
+        for sub_obj in o2m_to_preserve[o2m].all():
+            sub_model = type(sub_obj)
+            sub_obj_list.append((sub_model.__module__, sub_model.__name__, sub_obj.pk))
+
+    from awx.api.generics import CopyAPIView
+    from awx.main.signals import disable_activity_stream
+
     with transaction.atomic(), ignore_inventory_computed_fields(), disable_activity_stream():
         copy_mapping = {}
         for sub_obj_setup in sub_obj_list: