Hello all. I am a returning player from a break of about 12 years who started again last week. I have leveled my pally (58 currently) as ret and I want to go protection. I’m in no particular hurry to max out gear but I would like to be able to tank regular instances effectively. Is there some way to get starter tank gear for low instance tanking? I can’t seem to find anything that would let me respec into a tanking role. Thanks very much for any advice.
Not sure what you mean by respecting, but if you looking for the best way to get you in to the action is by watching guides how to tank high keys and stuff dont watch bad guides that’s meant for noobs cuz that would lead you no where, and how to get gear your best option right now is by buying couple M+ boosts for gear and try to get other stuff from AH all you need is around 250 ilvl to be able to run 15-18 keys with no problem, i hope this will help you going forward 
There’s not really such a thing as “tank gear” anymore. Except a shield, of course.
The old tank stats of getting “uncrushable” and “defense capped” etc is gone.
Nowdays, gear is even interchangeable from Intelligence to Strength when you switch specs. This goes for all armor peices as far as I know.
The only exception is weapons, trinkets and jewelry.
Prot Paladin likes Versatility and Mastery with a decent bit of Haste. Crit is less important.
Legendary, stat priority, tank trinkets depending on circumstances and most importantly a suitable transmog 
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Throw on a sword and shield, and go. The only real difference is in trinkets, and until you are tanking Mythics or Raids, it’s not that important.
If you have any pvp points guy buy the unranked shield and 1h then max it to 7/7. If not check AH, for some cheap greens shield and 1h. After that just play really. Gear shouldn’t be an issue in normal dungeons.