diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 6346e0549..0ea55ddd5 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ jobs:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
         # Run these tests against older clusters as well
-        k8s: [v1.19, latest]
+        k8s: [v1.20, latest]
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v2
       - uses: actions-rs/toolchain@v1
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ jobs:
           # Used to avoid rate limits when fetching the releases from k3s repo.
           # Anonymous access is limited to 60 requests / hour / worker
           # github-token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-          k3d-args: "--no-lb --k3s-arg --no-deploy=traefik,servicelb,metrics-server@server:*"
+          k3d-args: "--no-lb --no-rollback --k3s-arg --disable=traefik,servicelb,metrics-server@server:*"
 
       # Real CI work starts here
       - name: Build workspace
@@ -155,6 +155,8 @@ jobs:
         run: cargo test --lib --all -- --ignored
       - name: Run all facade integration library tests with extra features
         run: cargo test -p kube --lib --features=derive,runtime -- --ignored --nocapture
+      - name: Run crd example tests
+        run: cargo run -p kube-examples --example crd_api
       - name: Run all client integration library tests with rustls and ws
         run: cargo test -p kube-client --lib --features=rustls-tls,ws -- --ignored
       - name: Run derive example tests
@@ -162,7 +164,6 @@ jobs:
       - name: Run crd example tests
         run: cargo run -p kube-examples --example crd_api
 
-
   mk8sv:
     # comile check e2e tests against mk8sv
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
@@ -201,13 +202,13 @@ jobs:
 
       - uses: nolar/setup-k3d-k3s@v1
         with:
-          version: v1.19
+          version: v1.20
           # k3d-kube
           k3d-name: kube
           # Used to avoid rate limits when fetching the releases from k3s repo.
           # Anonymous access is limited to 60 requests / hour / worker
           # github-token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-          k3d-args: "--no-lb --k3s-arg --no-deploy=traefik,servicelb,metrics-server@server:*"
+          k3d-args: "--no-lb --no-rollback --k3s-arg --disable=traefik,servicelb,metrics-server@server:*"
 
       # Real CI work starts here
       - name: Build workspace
@@ -254,7 +255,7 @@ jobs:
           # Used to avoid rate limits when fetching the releases from k3s repo.
           # Anonymous access is limited to 60 requests / hour / worker
           # github-token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-          k3d-args: "--no-lb --k3s-arg --no-deploy=traefik,servicelb,metrics-server@server:*"
+          k3d-args: "--no-lb --no-rollback --k3s-arg --disable=traefik,servicelb,metrics-server@server:*"
 
       - name: Compile e2e job against ${{matrix.tls}}
         run: |
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 07e4011ee..0ed1fb6d0 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 [![Crates.io](https://img.shields.io/crates/v/kube.svg)](https://crates.io/crates/kube)
 [![Rust 1.60](https://img.shields.io/badge/MSRV-1.60-dea584.svg)](https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/releases/tag/1.60.0)
-[![Tested against Kubernetes 1.19 and above](https://img.shields.io/badge/MK8SV-1.19-326ce5.svg)](https://kube.rs/kubernetes-version)
+[![Tested against Kubernetes v1_20 and above](https://img.shields.io/badge/MK8SV-v1_20-326ce5.svg)](https://kube.rs/kubernetes-version)
 [![Best Practices](https://bestpractices.coreinfrastructure.org/projects/5413/badge)](https://bestpractices.coreinfrastructure.org/projects/5413)
 [![Discord chat](https://img.shields.io/discord/500028886025895936.svg?logo=discord&style=plastic)](https://discord.gg/tokio)
 
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ Select a version of `kube` along with the generated [k8s-openapi](https://github
 ```toml
 [dependencies]
 kube = { version = "0.74.0", features = ["runtime", "derive"] }
-k8s-openapi = { version = "0.15.0", features = ["v1_24"] }
+k8s-openapi = { version = "0.15.0", features = ["v1_25"] }
 ```
 
 [Features are available](https://github.com/kube-rs/kube-rs/blob/master/kube/Cargo.toml#L18).
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ Kube has basic support ([with caveats](https://github.com/kube-rs/kube-rs/issues
 ```toml
 [dependencies]
 kube = { version = "0.74.0", default-features = false, features = ["client", "rustls-tls"] }
-k8s-openapi = { version = "0.15.0", features = ["v1_24"] }
+k8s-openapi = { version = "0.15.0", features = ["v1_25"] }
 ```
 
 This will pull in `rustls` and `hyper-rustls`.
diff --git a/e2e/Cargo.toml b/e2e/Cargo.toml
index d3a211c45..051789b42 100644
--- a/e2e/Cargo.toml
+++ b/e2e/Cargo.toml
@@ -18,8 +18,8 @@ name = "boot"
 path = "boot.rs"
 
 [features]
-latest = ["k8s-openapi/v1_24"]
-mk8sv = ["k8s-openapi/v1_19"]
+latest = ["k8s-openapi/v1_25"]
+mk8sv = ["k8s-openapi/v1_20"]
 rustls = ["kube/rustls-tls"]
 openssl = ["kube/openssl-tls"]
 
@@ -29,6 +29,6 @@ tracing = "0.1.29"
 tracing-subscriber = "0.3.3"
 futures = "0.3.17"
 kube = { path = "../kube", version = "^0.74.0", default-features = false, features = ["client", "runtime", "ws", "admission", "gzip"] }
-k8s-openapi = { version = "0.15.0", default-features = false }
+k8s-openapi = { version = "0.16.0", default-features = false }
 serde_json = "1.0.68"
 tokio = { version = "1.14.0", features = ["full"] }
diff --git a/examples/Cargo.toml b/examples/Cargo.toml
index 504b33a29..44cb38833 100644
--- a/examples/Cargo.toml
+++ b/examples/Cargo.toml
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ openssl-tls = ["kube/client", "kube/openssl-tls"]
 rustls-tls = ["kube/client", "kube/rustls-tls"]
 runtime = ["kube/runtime"]
 ws = ["kube/ws"]
-latest = ["k8s-openapi/v1_24"]
+latest = ["k8s-openapi/v1_25"]
 
 [dev-dependencies]
 tokio-util = "0.7.0"
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ futures = "0.3.17"
 jsonpath_lib = "0.3.0"
 kube = { path = "../kube", version = "^0.74.0", default-features = false, features = ["admission"] }
 kube-derive = { path = "../kube-derive", version = "^0.74.0", default-features = false } # only needed to opt out of schema
-k8s-openapi = { version = "0.15.0", default-features = false }
+k8s-openapi = { version = "0.16.0", default-features = false }
 serde = { version = "1.0.130", features = ["derive"] }
 serde_json = "1.0.68"
 serde_yaml = "0.8.21"
diff --git a/justfile b/justfile
index 411b4eba0..2724ce422 100644
--- a/justfile
+++ b/justfile
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ fmt:
   rustfmt +nightly --edition 2021 $(find . -type f -iname *.rs)
 
 doc:
-  RUSTDOCFLAGS="--cfg docsrs" cargo +nightly doc --lib --workspace --features=derive,ws,oauth,jsonpatch,client,derive,runtime,admission,k8s-openapi/v1_24 --open
+  RUSTDOCFLAGS="--cfg docsrs" cargo +nightly doc --lib --workspace --features=derive,ws,oauth,jsonpatch,client,derive,runtime,admission,k8s-openapi/v1_25 --open
 
 # Unit tests
 test:
@@ -76,7 +76,8 @@ e2e-job-musl features:
 
 k3d:
   k3d cluster create main --servers 1 --registry-create main \
-    --k3s-arg "--no-deploy=traefik@server:*" \
+    --no-lb --no-rollback \
+    --k3s-arg "--disable=traefik,servicelb,metrics-server@server:*" \
     --k3s-arg '--kubelet-arg=eviction-hard=imagefs.available<1%,nodefs.available<1%@agent:*' \
     --k3s-arg '--kubelet-arg=eviction-minimum-reclaim=imagefs.available=1%,nodefs.available=1%@agent:*'
 
diff --git a/kube-client/Cargo.toml b/kube-client/Cargo.toml
index fa447f02c..2f0804fc6 100644
--- a/kube-client/Cargo.toml
+++ b/kube-client/Cargo.toml
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ config = ["__non_core", "pem", "dirs"]
 __non_core = ["tracing", "serde_yaml", "base64"]
 
 [package.metadata.docs.rs]
-features = ["client", "native-tls", "rustls-tls", "openssl-tls", "ws", "oauth", "jsonpatch", "admission", "k8s-openapi/v1_24"]
+features = ["client", "native-tls", "rustls-tls", "openssl-tls", "ws", "oauth", "jsonpatch", "admission", "k8s-openapi/v1_25"]
 # Define the configuration attribute `docsrs`. Used to enable `doc_cfg` feature.
 rustdoc-args = ["--cfg", "docsrs"]
 
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ tracing = { version = "0.1.29", features = ["log"], optional = true }
 hyper-openssl = { version = "0.9.2", optional = true }
 
 [dependencies.k8s-openapi]
-version = "0.15.0"
+version = "0.16.0"
 default-features = false
 features = []
 
@@ -86,6 +86,6 @@ tokio-test = "0.4.0"
 tower-test = "0.4.0"
 
 [dev-dependencies.k8s-openapi]
-version = "0.15.0"
+version = "0.16.0"
 default-features = false
-features = ["v1_24"]
+features = ["v1_25"]
diff --git a/kube-core/Cargo.toml b/kube-core/Cargo.toml
index 56b45d612..62da8535b 100644
--- a/kube-core/Cargo.toml
+++ b/kube-core/Cargo.toml
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ repository = "https://github.com/kube-rs/kube-rs"
 readme = "../README.md"
 
 [package.metadata.docs.rs]
-features = ["ws", "admission", "jsonpatch", "k8s-openapi/v1_24"]
+features = ["ws", "admission", "jsonpatch", "k8s-openapi/v1_25"]
 rustdoc-args = ["--cfg", "docsrs"]
 
 [features]
@@ -34,14 +34,14 @@ chrono = { version = "0.4.19", default-features = false, features = ["clock"] }
 schemars = { version = "0.8.6", optional = true }
 
 [dependencies.k8s-openapi]
-version = "0.15.0"
+version = "0.16.0"
 default-features = false
 features = []
 
 [dev-dependencies.k8s-openapi]
-version = "0.15.0"
+version = "0.16.0"
 default-features = false
-features = ["v1_24"]
+features = ["v1_25"]
 
 [dev-dependencies]
 assert-json-diff = "2.0.1"
diff --git a/kube-core/src/params.rs b/kube-core/src/params.rs
index dc8571597..9ae89973f 100644
--- a/kube-core/src/params.rs
+++ b/kube-core/src/params.rs
@@ -476,6 +476,13 @@ impl DeleteParams {
         self.preconditions = Some(preconditions);
         self
     }
+
+    pub(crate) fn is_default(&self) -> bool {
+        !self.dry_run
+            && self.grace_period_seconds.is_none()
+            && self.propagation_policy.is_none()
+            && self.preconditions.is_none()
+    }
 }
 
 // dryRun serialization differ when used as body parameters and query strings:
diff --git a/kube-core/src/request.rs b/kube-core/src/request.rs
index d295d75c7..40b9ee61b 100644
--- a/kube-core/src/request.rs
+++ b/kube-core/src/request.rs
@@ -148,9 +148,15 @@ impl Request {
             qp.append_pair("labelSelector", labels);
         }
         let urlstr = qp.finish();
-        let body = serde_json::to_vec(&dp).map_err(Error::SerializeBody)?;
+
+        let data = if dp.is_default() {
+            vec![] // default serialize needs to be empty body
+        } else {
+            serde_json::to_vec(&dp).map_err(Error::SerializeBody)?
+        };
+
         let req = http::Request::delete(urlstr).header(http::header::CONTENT_TYPE, JSON_MIME);
-        req.body(body).map_err(Error::BuildRequest)
+        req.body(data).map_err(Error::BuildRequest)
     }
 
     /// Patch an instance of a resource
@@ -276,11 +282,10 @@ mod test {
     use crate::{params::PostParams, request::Request, resource::Resource};
     use k8s::{
         admissionregistration::v1 as adregv1, apps::v1 as appsv1, authorization::v1 as authv1,
-        autoscaling::v1 as autoscalingv1, batch::v1beta1 as batchv1beta1, core::v1 as corev1,
+        autoscaling::v1 as autoscalingv1, batch::v1 as batchv1, core::v1 as corev1,
         networking::v1 as networkingv1, rbac::v1 as rbacv1, storage::v1 as storagev1,
     };
     use k8s_openapi::api as k8s;
-    // use k8s::batch::v1 as batchv1;
 
     // NB: stable requires >= 1.17
     use k8s_openapi::apiextensions_apiserver::pkg::apis::apiextensions::v1 as apiextsv1;
@@ -315,9 +320,9 @@ mod test {
 
     #[test]
     fn api_url_cj() {
-        let url = batchv1beta1::CronJob::url_path(&(), Some("ns"));
+        let url = batchv1::CronJob::url_path(&(), Some("ns"));
         let req = Request::new(url).create(&PostParams::default(), vec![]).unwrap();
-        assert_eq!(req.uri(), "/apis/batch/v1beta1/namespaces/ns/cronjobs?");
+        assert_eq!(req.uri(), "/apis/batch/v1/namespaces/ns/cronjobs?");
     }
     #[test]
     fn api_url_hpa() {
diff --git a/kube-derive/Cargo.toml b/kube-derive/Cargo.toml
index f196499f7..1d7cc23b0 100644
--- a/kube-derive/Cargo.toml
+++ b/kube-derive/Cargo.toml
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ proc-macro = true
 serde = { version = "1.0.130", features = ["derive"] }
 serde_yaml = "0.8.21"
 kube = { path = "../kube", default-features = false, version = "<1.0.0, >=0.61.0", features = ["derive"] }
-k8s-openapi = { version = "0.15.0", default-features = false, features = ["v1_24"] }
+k8s-openapi = { version = "0.16.0", default-features = false, features = ["v1_25"] }
 schemars = { version = "0.8.6", features = ["chrono"] }
 validator = { version = "0.16.0", features = ["derive"] }
 chrono = { version = "0.4.19", default-features = false }
diff --git a/kube-runtime/Cargo.toml b/kube-runtime/Cargo.toml
index 946315d3e..bdf922a00 100644
--- a/kube-runtime/Cargo.toml
+++ b/kube-runtime/Cargo.toml
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ rust-version = "1.60.0"
 edition = "2021"
 
 [package.metadata.docs.rs]
-features = ["k8s-openapi/v1_24"]
+features = ["k8s-openapi/v1_25"]
 # Define the configuration attribute `docsrs`. Used to enable `doc_cfg` feature.
 rustdoc-args = ["--cfg", "docsrs"]
 
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ thiserror = "1.0.29"
 backoff = "0.4.0"
 
 [dependencies.k8s-openapi]
-version = "0.15.0"
+version = "0.16.0"
 default-features = false
 
 [dev-dependencies]
@@ -48,6 +48,6 @@ rand = "0.8.0"
 schemars = "0.8.6"
 
 [dev-dependencies.k8s-openapi]
-version = "0.15.0"
+version = "0.16.0"
 default-features = false
-features = ["v1_24"]
+features = ["v1_25"]
diff --git a/kube/Cargo.toml b/kube/Cargo.toml
index c7e4d8225..6254d80ed 100644
--- a/kube/Cargo.toml
+++ b/kube/Cargo.toml
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ config = ["kube-client/config"]
 runtime = ["kube-runtime"]
 
 [package.metadata.docs.rs]
-features = ["client", "native-tls", "rustls-tls", "openssl-tls", "derive", "ws", "oauth", "jsonpatch", "admission", "runtime", "k8s-openapi/v1_24"]
+features = ["client", "native-tls", "rustls-tls", "openssl-tls", "derive", "ws", "oauth", "jsonpatch", "admission", "runtime", "k8s-openapi/v1_25"]
 # Define the configuration attribute `docsrs`. Used to enable `doc_cfg` feature.
 rustdoc-args = ["--cfg", "docsrs"]
 
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ kube-runtime = { path = "../kube-runtime", version = "=0.74.0", optional = true}
 # Not used directly, but required by resolver 2.0 to ensure that the k8s-openapi dependency
 # is considered part of the "deps" graph rather than just the "dev-deps" graph
 [dependencies.k8s-openapi]
-version = "0.15.0"
+version = "0.16.0"
 default-features = false
 
 [dev-dependencies]
@@ -56,6 +56,6 @@ serde = { version = "1.0.130", features = ["derive"] }
 schemars = "0.8.6"
 
 [dev-dependencies.k8s-openapi]
-version = "0.15.0"
+version = "0.16.0"
 default-features = false
-features = ["v1_24"]
+features = ["v1_25"]
diff --git a/kube/src/lib.rs b/kube/src/lib.rs
index d5dc9d472..4bd821365 100644
--- a/kube/src/lib.rs
+++ b/kube/src/lib.rs
@@ -243,7 +243,6 @@ mod test {
             .await?;
         let establish = await_condition(crds.clone(), "foos.clux.dev", conditions::is_crd_established());
         let _ = tokio::time::timeout(std::time::Duration::from_secs(10), establish).await?;
-
         // Use it
         let foos: Api<Foo> = Api::default_namespaced(client.clone());
         // Apply from generated struct
@@ -270,12 +269,14 @@ mod test {
                 }
             });
             let o = foos.patch("baz", &ssapply, &Patch::Apply(patch)).await?;
-            assert_eq!(o.spec.replicas, 2);
+            assert_eq!(o.spec.replicas, 2, "patching spec updated spec.replicas");
         }
         // check subresource
         {
-            assert_eq!(foos.get_scale("baz").await?.spec.unwrap().replicas, Some(2));
-            assert!(foos.get_status("baz").await?.status.is_none()); // nothing has set this
+            let scale = foos.get_scale("baz").await?;
+            assert_eq!(scale.spec.unwrap().replicas, Some(2));
+            let status = foos.get_status("baz").await?;
+            assert!(status.status.is_none(), "nothing has set status");
         }
         // set status subresource
         {
@@ -283,7 +284,7 @@ mod test {
             let o = foos
                 .patch_status("baz", &Default::default(), &Patch::Merge(&fs))
                 .await?;
-            assert!(o.status.is_some());
+            assert!(o.status.is_some(), "status set after patch_status");
         }
         // set scale subresource
         {
@@ -291,8 +292,9 @@ mod test {
             let o = foos
                 .patch_scale("baz", &Default::default(), &Patch::Merge(&fs))
                 .await?;
-            assert_eq!(o.status.unwrap().replicas, 1); // something needs to set the status for this
-            assert_eq!(o.spec.unwrap().replicas.unwrap(), 3); // what we asked for got updated
+            assert_eq!(o.status.unwrap().replicas, 1, "scale replicas got patched");
+            let linked_replicas = o.spec.unwrap().replicas.unwrap();
+            assert_eq!(linked_replicas, 3, "patch_scale updates linked spec.replicas");
         }
 
         // cleanup
diff --git a/release.toml b/release.toml
index 56233a3d9..23387616d 100644
--- a/release.toml
+++ b/release.toml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 #
 # 0. (optional) cargo release minor ; verify readme + changelog bumped; then git reset --hard
 # 1. PUBLISH_GRACE_SLEEP=20 cargo release minor --execute
-# 1X.  - on failure: follow plan manually, cd into next dirs and publish insequence with cargo publish --features=k8s-openapi/v1_24
+# 1X.  - on failure: follow plan manually, cd into next dirs and publish insequence with cargo publish --features=k8s-openapi/v1_25
 # 2. check consolidated commit
 # 2X.  - on failure: git commit --amend and insert version
 # 3. ./scripts/release-post.sh
@@ -21,4 +21,4 @@ push = false
 tag = false
 # A Kubernetes version is normally supplied by the application consuming the library in the end.
 # Since we don't have that when verifying, supply one ourselves.
-enable-features = ["k8s-openapi/v1_24"]
+enable-features = ["k8s-openapi/v1_25"]