diff --git a/sys/fs/tarfs/tarfs_subr.c b/sys/fs/tarfs/tarfs_subr.c
--- a/sys/fs/tarfs/tarfs_subr.c
+++ b/sys/fs/tarfs/tarfs_subr.c
@@ -384,6 +384,18 @@
 	tmp = tnp->tmp;
 
 	switch (tnp->type) {
+	case VREG:
+		if (tnp->nlink-- > 1)
+			return;
+		if (tnp->other != NULL)
+			tarfs_free_node(tnp->other);
+		break;
+	case VDIR:
+		if (tnp->nlink-- > 2)
+			return;
+		if (tnp->parent != NULL && tnp->parent != tnp)
+			tarfs_free_node(tnp->parent);
+		break;
 	case VLNK:
 		if (tnp->link.name)
 			free(tnp->link.name, M_TARFSNAME);
@@ -397,6 +409,7 @@
 		free(tnp->blk, M_TARFSBLK);
 	if (tnp->ino >= TARFS_MININO)
 		free_unr(tmp->ino_unr, tnp->ino);
+	TAILQ_REMOVE(&tmp->allnodes, tnp, entries);
 	free(tnp, M_TARFSNODE);
 	tmp->nfiles--;
 }
diff --git a/sys/fs/tarfs/tarfs_vfsops.c b/sys/fs/tarfs/tarfs_vfsops.c
--- a/sys/fs/tarfs/tarfs_vfsops.c
+++ b/sys/fs/tarfs/tarfs_vfsops.c
@@ -406,16 +406,14 @@
 tarfs_free_mount(struct tarfs_mount *tmp)
 {
 	struct mount *mp;
-	struct tarfs_node *tnp;
+	struct tarfs_node *tnp, *tnp_next;
 
 	MPASS(tmp != NULL);
 
 	TARFS_DPF(ALLOC, "%s: Freeing mount structure %p\n", __func__, tmp);
 
 	TARFS_DPF(ALLOC, "%s: freeing tarfs_node structures\n", __func__);
-	while (!TAILQ_EMPTY(&tmp->allnodes)) {
-		tnp = TAILQ_FIRST(&tmp->allnodes);
-		TAILQ_REMOVE(&tmp->allnodes, tnp, entries);
+	TAILQ_FOREACH_SAFE(tnp, &tmp->allnodes, entries, tnp_next) {
 		tarfs_free_node(tnp);
 	}
 
@@ -744,6 +742,7 @@
 			error = EINVAL;
 			goto bad;
 		}
+		tnp->other->nlink++;
 		break;
 	case TAR_TYPE_SYMLINK:
 		if (link == NULL) {
diff --git a/tests/sys/fs/tarfs/tarfs_test.sh b/tests/sys/fs/tarfs/tarfs_test.sh
--- a/tests/sys/fs/tarfs/tarfs_test.sh
+++ b/tests/sys/fs/tarfs/tarfs_test.sh
@@ -59,6 +59,8 @@
 	atf_check_equal "$(stat -f%d,%i "${mnt}"/sparse_file)" "$(stat -L -f%d,%i "${mnt}"/short_link)"
 	atf_check_equal "$(stat -f%d,%i "${mnt}"/sparse_file)" "$(stat -L -f%d,%i "${mnt}"/long_link)"
 	atf_check_equal "$(sha256 -q "${mnt}"/sparse_file)" ${sum}
+	atf_check_equal "$(stat -f%l "${mnt}"/sparse_file)" 2
+	atf_check_equal "$(stat -f%l "${mnt}"/hard_link)" 2
 }
 tarfs_basic_cleanup() {
 	umount "${mnt}" || true