There is no way a shock can do the job that the torque rod does.  Think about it.  In theory it sounds good, but the torque rod is solid and it stops axle movement as soon as the brakes are applied...  A shock can dampen it, and allow movement with the suspension, but can't stop it from moving/rolling when the brakes are put on... 

What you wrote sounds good but it is wrong. A friend of mine did it, he found a shock that at ride height it was fully collapsed. Hence when he applied the brakes it was solid and worked just like the torque arm, when he was wheeling it let the frontend droop. In fact it let it droop some much that he had to put a limiting strap on it to stop breaking "J" arms.