New Battery

[YarisFrog]

Hi! Nice forum you got here!

The battery in my GF's Yaris is dead. Instead of letting her go to the dealer and pay full price for a new one (I also wanted to be her hero) I went at Costco and bought a Kirkland battery, cause, well, I CAN replace a battery by myself. Now, two things:

1- The battery is like ¼ of an inch taller than the old one, I can't fit the hold-down kit unless I remove the plastic tray under the battery. Is it safe (for the battery) to install it without the plastic tray, directly on the metal?

2- While unscrewing the hold-down rod, well... I was not holding it... it fell right through (facepalm). Didn't feel much like a hero anymore. It's freezing here so I can't really lay down and unscrew the splash guard and try to find the rod. The sound it made when falling makes me think it's on the frame or something.. sounded like metal. Now I don't know that car/engine at all, but I didn't see any fan or strap under the battery location, am I right? Do you think I'd be safe just to let it there and buy a new one?

Thank you guys!

Mart