I have read a lot about how difficult it is to remove the 4 rear shocks/springs on an xke. Most web sites and manuals tell you it is necessary to remove the whole differential cage. That is only necessary if the top mounts of the rear most shocks are fastened with the top bolt placed in the wrong way!
I was fortunate to have my top shock bolts placed correctly, the HEAD of the bolts to the FRONT of the car! This makes it easy to remove and reinstall these top shock/spring bolts. To eliminate struggling with holding the 7/16" nut that has to go on the rear of the diff cage between the trunk/boot I made up a "permanent nut holder" by welding a 7/16" fine thread nut to a piece of 1/8" x 12" flat bar, by drilling a 1/2" hole in the bar and then welding the nut over it.
This works better than welding the nut to the back of the cage as you don't have "thread alignment" problems. When using this "tool/nut holder" bend the end to suit, face the nut part to the front of the car making it easy to align with the bolt.
Of course the two other shock/springs you can get at easy with ordinary wrenches. See attached photo of the nut holder bar.