diff --git a/dask_kubernetes/operator/kubecluster/kubecluster.py b/dask_kubernetes/operator/kubecluster/kubecluster.py
index 8e1a9dfe8..738c12e4c 100644
--- a/dask_kubernetes/operator/kubecluster/kubecluster.py
+++ b/dask_kubernetes/operator/kubecluster/kubecluster.py
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 import pykube.exceptions
 import kubernetes_asyncio as kubernetes
 import yaml
+import kr8s
 
 import dask.config
 from distributed.core import Status, rpc
@@ -43,9 +44,13 @@
 )
 from dask_kubernetes.common.utils import get_current_namespace
 from dask_kubernetes.aiopykube import HTTPClient, KubeConfig
-from dask_kubernetes.aiopykube.dask import DaskCluster, DaskWorkerGroup
+from dask_kubernetes.aiopykube.dask import (
+    DaskCluster,
+    DaskWorkerGroup as AIODaskWorkerGroup,
+)
 from dask_kubernetes.aiopykube.objects import Pod, Service
 from dask_kubernetes.exceptions import CrashLoopBackOffError, SchedulerStartupError
+from dask_kubernetes.operator._objects import DaskWorkerGroup, DaskAutoscaler
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -541,7 +546,7 @@ async def _watch_component_status(self):
 
             # Get DaskWorkerGroup status
             with suppress(pykube.exceptions.ObjectDoesNotExist):
-                await DaskWorkerGroup.objects(
+                await AIODaskWorkerGroup.objects(
                     self.k8s_api, namespace=self.namespace
                 ).get_by_name(self.name + "-default")
                 self._startup_component_status["workergroup"] = "Created"
@@ -799,31 +804,18 @@ def scale(self, n, worker_group="default"):
         return self.sync(self._scale, n, worker_group)
 
     async def _scale(self, n, worker_group="default"):
-        async with kubernetes.client.api_client.ApiClient() as api_client:
-            custom_objects_api = kubernetes.client.CustomObjectsApi(api_client)
-            custom_objects_api.api_client.set_default_header(
-                "content-type", "application/merge-patch+json"
-            )
-            # Disable adaptivity if enabled
-            with suppress(kubernetes.client.ApiException):
-                await custom_objects_api.delete_namespaced_custom_object(
-                    group="kubernetes.dask.org",
-                    version="v1",
-                    plural="daskautoscalers",
-                    namespace=self.namespace,
-                    name=self.name,
-                )
-            await custom_objects_api.patch_namespaced_custom_object_scale(
-                group="kubernetes.dask.org",
-                version="v1",
-                plural="daskworkergroups",
-                namespace=self.namespace,
-                name=f"{self.name}-{worker_group}",
-                body={"spec": {"replicas": n}},
-            )
-            for instance in self._instances:
-                if instance.name == self.name:
-                    instance.scheduler_info = self.scheduler_info
+        # Disable adaptivity if enabled
+        with suppress(kr8s.NotFoundError):
+            autoscaler = await DaskAutoscaler(self.name, self.namespace)
+            await autoscaler.delete()
+
+        wg = await DaskWorkerGroup(
+            f"{self.name}-{worker_group}", namespace=self.namespace
+        )
+        await wg.scale(n)
+        for instance in self._instances:
+            if instance.name == self.name:
+                instance.scheduler_info = self.scheduler_info
 
     def adapt(self, minimum=None, maximum=None):
         """Turn on adaptivity
@@ -843,41 +835,27 @@ def adapt(self, minimum=None, maximum=None):
         return self.sync(self._adapt, minimum, maximum)
 
     async def _adapt(self, minimum=None, maximum=None):
-        async with kubernetes.client.api_client.ApiClient() as api_client:
-            custom_objects_api = kubernetes.client.CustomObjectsApi(api_client)
-            custom_objects_api.api_client.set_default_header(
-                "content-type", "application/merge-patch+json"
-            )
-            try:
-                await custom_objects_api.patch_namespaced_custom_object_scale(
-                    group="kubernetes.dask.org",
-                    version="v1",
-                    plural="daskautoscalers",
-                    namespace=self.namespace,
-                    name=self.name,
-                    body={"spec": {"minimum": minimum, "maximum": maximum}},
-                )
-            except kubernetes.client.ApiException:
-                await custom_objects_api.create_namespaced_custom_object(
-                    group="kubernetes.dask.org",
-                    version="v1",
-                    plural="daskautoscalers",
-                    namespace=self.namespace,
-                    body={
-                        "apiVersion": "kubernetes.dask.org/v1",
-                        "kind": "DaskAutoscaler",
-                        "metadata": {
-                            "name": self.name,
-                            "dask.org/cluster-name": self.name,
-                            "dask.org/component": "autoscaler",
-                        },
-                        "spec": {
-                            "cluster": self.name,
-                            "minimum": minimum,
-                            "maximum": maximum,
-                        },
-                    },
-                )
+        autoscaler = await DaskAutoscaler(
+            {
+                "apiVersion": "kubernetes.dask.org/v1",
+                "kind": "DaskAutoscaler",
+                "metadata": {
+                    "name": self.name,
+                    "dask.org/cluster-name": self.name,
+                    "dask.org/component": "autoscaler",
+                },
+                "spec": {
+                    "cluster": self.name,
+                    "minimum": minimum,
+                    "maximum": maximum,
+                },
+            },
+            self.namespace,
+        )
+        try:
+            await autoscaler.patch({"spec": {"minimum": minimum, "maximum": maximum}})
+        except kr8s.NotFoundError:
+            await autoscaler.create()
 
     def __enter__(self):
         return self