Think I may have found some shocks from Rancho to lift my dakota, only going as high as 3 inches, never lifted anything and I see lots of other parts in kits for other vehicles, can I get away with just the shocks to obtain more height or am I missing something?

 

Shocks alone do not provide lift. You will need more hardware to lift a vehicle 3". Check out this thread.

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...ion-ideas.html

 

Shocks don't lift a vehicle.

 

I have a 2001 Dakota Sport Reg. Cab. Shocks alone won´t lift our trucks. With mine I have a 3 inch body lift and reindexed torsion keys cranked about 2.5 inches and 3 inch rear blocks. You don´t need new keys. You can get 1 or 2 inches from the stock keys. For the front the stock length shocks are fine. I have Rancho RS5000. For the rear you do need longer shocks. I also installed a 2 inch differential drop kit to help with the CV axle angles. I also made some upper ball joint spacers and moved the ball joint under the upper control arm. Moved the front bumper forward about 1 inch and trimmed the front bottom corner of the bumper just a bit and also the rear of the fender flare and heated the fender skirt at the rear and pushed it back for some extra clearance. Also installed 1.5 inch wheel spacers. All this and I was able to fit 315/75/16 Cooper SST All Terrains on the stock 16x8 rims. No rubbing under normal driving. But some slight rubbing when off road but only if backing up at a steep angle. Hope this helps.

 

I might have been tempted to shave the ball joint blocks at an angle, to help give you a bit more wiggle room before they bind.