diff --git a/elasticsearch/connection/http_urllib3.py b/elasticsearch/connection/http_urllib3.py
index 06d9f5b0..14705dad 100644
--- a/elasticsearch/connection/http_urllib3.py
+++ b/elasticsearch/connection/http_urllib3.py
@@ -17,17 +17,17 @@ class Urllib3HttpConnection(Connection):
     """
     def __init__(self, host='localhost', port=9200, http_auth=None, use_ssl=False, maxsize=10, **kwargs):
         super(Urllib3HttpConnection, self).__init__(host=host, port=port, **kwargs)
-        headers = {}
+        self.headers = {}
         if http_auth is not None:
             if isinstance(http_auth, (tuple, list)):
                 http_auth = ':'.join(http_auth)
-            headers = urllib3.make_headers(basic_auth=http_auth)
+            self.headers = urllib3.make_headers(basic_auth=http_auth)
 
         pool_class = urllib3.HTTPConnectionPool
         if use_ssl:
             pool_class = urllib3.HTTPSConnectionPool
 
-        self.pool = pool_class(host, port=port, timeout=self.timeout, headers=headers, maxsize=maxsize)
+        self.pool = pool_class(host, port=port, timeout=self.timeout, maxsize=maxsize)
 
     def perform_request(self, method, url, params=None, body=None, timeout=None, ignore=()):
         url = self.url_prefix + url
@@ -40,7 +40,10 @@ class Urllib3HttpConnection(Connection):
             kw = {}
             if timeout:
                 kw['timeout'] = timeout
-            response = self.pool.urlopen(method, url, body, retries=0, **kw)
+            headers = self.headers.copy()
+            if body:
+                headers['content-length'] = str(len(body))
+            response = self.pool.urlopen(method, url, body, retries=False, headers=headers, **kw)
             duration = time.time() - start
             raw_data = response.data.decode('utf-8')
         except Exception as e:
diff --git a/test_elasticsearch/test_connection.py b/test_elasticsearch/test_connection.py
index ce836c00..db4ca7e6 100644
--- a/test_elasticsearch/test_connection.py
+++ b/test_elasticsearch/test_connection.py
@@ -35,15 +35,15 @@ class TestUrllib3Connection(TestCase):
 
     def test_http_auth(self):
         con = Urllib3HttpConnection(http_auth='username:secret')
-        self.assertEquals({'authorization': 'Basic dXNlcm5hbWU6c2VjcmV0'}, con.pool.headers)
+        self.assertEquals({'authorization': 'Basic dXNlcm5hbWU6c2VjcmV0'}, con.headers)
 
     def test_http_auth_tuple(self):
         con = Urllib3HttpConnection(http_auth=('username', 'secret'))
-        self.assertEquals({'authorization': 'Basic dXNlcm5hbWU6c2VjcmV0'}, con.pool.headers)
+        self.assertEquals({'authorization': 'Basic dXNlcm5hbWU6c2VjcmV0'}, con.headers)
 
     def test_http_auth_list(self):
         con = Urllib3HttpConnection(http_auth=['username', 'secret'])
-        self.assertEquals({'authorization': 'Basic dXNlcm5hbWU6c2VjcmV0'}, con.pool.headers)
+        self.assertEquals({'authorization': 'Basic dXNlcm5hbWU6c2VjcmV0'}, con.headers)
 
     def test_uses_https_if_specified(self):
         con = Urllib3HttpConnection(use_ssl=True)
@@ -53,6 +53,14 @@ class TestUrllib3Connection(TestCase):
         con = Urllib3HttpConnection()
         self.assertIsInstance(con.pool, urllib3.HTTPConnectionPool)
 
+    def test_content_length_gets_set(self):
+        con = Urllib3HttpConnection()
+        m = con.pool.urlopen = Mock()
+        m.return_value.status = 200
+
+        con.perform_request('PUT', '/', body='0123456789')
+        m.assert_called_once_with('PUT', '/', '0123456789', headers={'content-length': '10'}, retries=False)
+
 class TestRequestsConnection(TestCase):
     def _get_mock_connection(self, connection_params={}, status_code=200, response_body='{}'):
         con = RequestsHttpConnection(**connection_params)